Planning Mode
Start with a day rate you already charge or have been offered, then estimate turnover, tax set-aside, take-home, and employee salary equivalent.
Financial Targets
Tax Assumptions
This is a planning estimate for a self-employed / sole-trader style position. It uses Income Tax, non-PAYE USC, PRSI Class S, and an Earned Income Credit style tax credit. It does not replace accountant advice or model full limited-company extraction.
Billable Days & Working Pattern
Contractor Day Rate Planner
Choose a mode to estimate what a day rate could produce, what day rate you may need, or how a PAYE salary could convert into contractor pricing.
How This Contractor Day Rate Is Calculated
This calculator estimates contractor pricing using Irish self-employed style tax assumptions, realistic billable days, business costs, pension inputs, and optional salary-to-contractor conversion.
Known day-rate mode starts with a day rate and billable-day assumption, then estimates annual turnover, allowable business costs, taxable profit, rough tax set-aside, pension funding, take-home, and employee salary equivalent.
Target take-home mode works backwards from the annual personal cash you want after rough Income Tax, USC, PRSI, and pension contribution, then adds business costs and a pricing buffer to estimate the required day rate.
Salary-to-contractor mode starts with a PAYE salary, optional benefits value, and contractor premium. It converts that into a contractor profit target before adding costs and buffer.
Taxable contractor profit is modelled as billed turnover minus annual business costs. Income Tax is then estimated after pension contribution, while USC and PRSI are not reduced by the pension input.
Recommended day rate = recommended billed turnover ÷ billable days.
This is a planning tool, not formal tax advice. It does not model full limited-company extraction, director payroll/dividend strategy, pension age limits, capital allowances, or all umbrella company fee/tax rules.