The day rate that pays your income, your costs and your tax, over the days you actually bill.
Day rate (excl. VAT)
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Enter your target income to see your day rate.
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Nothing yet: copy, export or save a calculation to find it here.
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Enter the income you want to keep over the year, your business costs and the share of your earnings to put aside for Income Tax and National Insurance. The calculator counts the days you can bill once weekends, the bank holidays of the year you choose, your holidays and your non-billable time are taken off, then works out your day rate before VAT and its hourly equivalent, with every step shown.
The target income is what is left once your business costs are paid and your set-aside is put by. If the set-aside covers your Income Tax and National Insurance, that is your take-home pay for the year.
As a sole trader you pay Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on your profit, which is your turnover less your allowable business expenses, so choose ‘On profit’. The calculator uses one flat percentage, while the real charges are banded: use the average rate for the profit you expect (see the FAQ).
2026 and 2027 both have 261 weekdays. The calculator takes off the bank holidays that fall on a weekday (8 a year in England and Wales, 10 in Northern Ireland, and 10 in 2026 and 9 in 2027 in Scotland), your weeks of holiday and your non-billable days: finding work, quoting, admin, training and sick days. Leave those at zero and the rate comes out too low.
The day rate excludes VAT: if you are VAT-registered, add VAT on top. Amounts are rounded to the nearest penny, with halves rounded up. Copy the workings, export them as a CSV file or save them to Priostack.
Billable days = (weekdays − bank holidays on weekdays) × days worked a week ÷ 5 − weeks of holiday × days a week − non-billable days.
Turnover = costs + income ÷ (1 − rate) when the set-aside is charged on profit, or (income + costs) ÷ (1 − rate) when it is charged on turnover.
Day rate = turnover ÷ billable days, rounded to the penny; hourly rate = day rate ÷ hours a day.
You want to keep £40,000 after tax and National Insurance, with £4,000 of business costs, and you put aside 20% of your profit. You need £4,000 + £40,000 ÷ (1 − 20%) = £54,000.00 of turnover, of which £10,000.00 is set aside. In 2027 in England and Wales, working 5 days a week with 4 weeks of holiday and 20 non-billable days leaves (261 − 8) − 20 − 20 = 213 billable days. Day rate: £54,000.00 ÷ 213 = £253.52 before VAT, or £33.80 an hour over a 7.5-hour day.
More than your income. It pays for your business costs, your tax and National Insurance, your holidays and every day you work without billing: finding clients, quoting, admin, training and sick days. That is why a salary divided by the weekdays in a year gives a day rate that is too low.
It depends on your profit, because both are charged in bands. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, Class 4 National Insurance is 6% of profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above that, and Income Tax outside Scotland is 0% up to the £12,570 Personal Allowance, 20% up to £50,270, 40% up to £125,140 and 45% above; the Personal Allowance goes down by £1 for every £2 of income over £100,000. With no other income, a profit of £50,000 gives £7,486.00 of Income Tax and £2,245.80 of Class 4 National Insurance: £9,731.80, about 19.5% of the profit. Scotland has its own Income Tax bands.
In 2027 there are 261 weekdays, 8 of them bank holidays in England and Wales. Taking 4 weeks off, which with the 8 bank holidays matches a worker’s legal minimum of 5.6 weeks, leaves 233 working days. Take off the time you spend finding work, running the business and training, and your sick days, and what is left is what you will really bill.
Yes: choose your nation. England and Wales have 8 bank holidays a year. Northern Ireland has 10, with St Patrick’s Day and the Battle of the Boyne. Scotland has 9, with 2 January and St Andrew’s Day but no Easter Monday, plus a bank holiday on 15 June 2026 for the World Cup. Only those falling on a weekday are counted; if you work some of them, choose ‘Other number’.
Before VAT. If you are VAT-registered, charge VAT on top of it and keep it out of your income. Our VAT calculator adds it for you.
Not directly. The set-aside here is one flat percentage, which suits a sole trader. If you work through your own limited company, or on a contract that falls inside the off-payroll working rules (IR35), your tax works differently: ask an accountant for the percentage to use, then enter it here.
This calculator gives general information, not legal, tax, financial or accounting advice. Your tax and National Insurance depend on your whole situation: check HMRC’s guidance or ask an accountant.
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