Self-employed: what will I owe and take home?
Works out your tax bill and what you keep from working for yourself, and how much to put aside each month.
Your answer
Enter the money you took in to see your tax bill and what you keep.
About this calculator
For sole traders and people with a side business. Put in the money you took in and your costs, and we work out your profit, the income tax and National Insurance on it, what you keep, and how much to put aside each month. If you have a job as well, we add it in.
We count your costs every way you're allowed to choose from (your real costs, the £1,000 trading allowance, or flat rates for miles, working from home and living where you work) and use the one that leaves you the most. We don't say which costs you can claim. It leaves out partnerships, companies, CIS, losses from earlier years, pension payments and Gift Aid.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
Your profit is the money you took in less your costs. Income tax is worked out on your profit on top of any pay from a job, after your tax-free allowance. National Insurance on profit (Class 4) is 6% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above. If you repay a student loan, your tax return adds 9% of your pay and profit together over the threshold, less what payroll took.
You pay the bill on 31 January after the tax year. If it's £1,000 or more, and most of your tax isn't already taken through a job, HMRC also asks for two advance payments towards next year (payments on account), each half of this year's bill: one with the bill on 31 January and one on 31 July. What you keep is the money in, less what you really spent, less the bill.
Worked example
You'd keep about £21,768 from your business in 2026/27, after a tax bill of about £3,232.
2026/27 tax year · England · costs counted with your real costs · Class 4 National Insurance · no student loan · no advance payments made
| The money you took in | £30,000 |
|---|---|
| Your real costs | − £5,000 |
| Your profit, which is what gets taxed | £25,000 |
| Income tax on your profit (your first £12,570 of income is tax-free) | £2,486 |
| National Insurance on your profit (Class 4): 6% from £12,570 to £50,270, 2% above | £745.80 |
| Your tax bill on your business | £3,231.80 |
| If you count costs with the £1,000 tax-free trading allowance: profit £29,000, bill | £4,271.80 |
| If you count costs with your real costs: profit £25,000, bill (the one we used) | £3,231.80 |
| You keep: £30,000 in, less £5,000 you really spent, less the £3,231.80 bill | £21,768.20 |
Worked out using HMRC's published rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), on a yearly basis.
Questions people ask
Why is January so expensive?
On 31 January you pay the rest of last year's bill and, once you're over £1,000, the first advance payment towards this year. In your first year that can mean paying about one and a half years' tax at once.
Do I pay the weekly self-employed National Insurance?
No one has to pay Class 2 any more. With a profit of £7,105 or more, the year counts towards your State Pension anyway. Under that, you can choose to pay £3.65 a week to make it count.
Which way of counting costs is best?
The one with the smallest bill leaves you the most money, so we pick it and show the others. What you're allowed to claim is for you and your accountant.
More free calculators
Talk to us about your tax.
A free call with the team. We’ll contact you within 24 hours.