Self employed tax calculator for sole traders
See the Income Tax and National Insurance on your sole trader profit for the 2026/27 tax year, and what you keep. It is free and there is no sign-up. Your numbers stay on this device for your next visit, and we never receive them.
- 2026/27 rates, checked on GOV.UK
- Expenses or the £1,000 trading allowance
- Handles a PAYE job alongside the business
Enter your turnover and expenses for the year. Add any wages from a job if you have one.
The working
| Turnover | £52,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Less expenses | -£14,000.00 |
| Profit | £38,000.00 |
| Income Tax | £5,086.00 |
| Class 4 National Insurance | £1,525.80 |
| Class 2 | £0 to pay |
2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, from gov.uk. An estimate, not tax advice: it leaves out CIS deductions already taken, student loans, pension relief and Scottish rates.
How tax on self-employed profit is worked out
As a sole trader you are taxed on profit, not on what customers pay you. Profit is turnover minus allowable expenses. Income Tax is charged on that profit above your Personal Allowance, and Class 4 National Insurance is charged on it too, with its own thresholds. Add the two together and you have the year's bill.
The calculator does it in four steps. It takes your expenses (or the £1,000 trading allowance) off your turnover to get profit. It works out Income Tax on profit plus any job income, then takes off the tax your employer already deducted. It adds Class 4 on the profit alone. Then it shows the total, what is left, and the total as a share of profit.
Here is the example loaded in the tool when the page opens: a self-employed tiler in England for the 2026/27 tax year, with no other job.
- Turnover: £52,000 invoiced and paid in the year.
- Allowable expenses: £14,000 for van costs, fuel, tools, insurance, phone and an accountant.
- Profit: £52,000 − £14,000 = £38,000.
- Taxable income: £38,000 − £12,570 Personal Allowance = £25,430, all inside the 20% band.
- Income Tax: 20% × £25,430 = £5,086.00.
- Class 4 National Insurance: 6% × (£38,000 − £12,570) = £1,525.80.
- Total: £6,611.80. Take-home: £38,000 − £6,611.80 = £31,388.20. Effective rate: 17.4% of profit.
Income Tax and Class 4 rates for 2026/27
The 2026/27 tax year started on 6 April 2026 and ends on 5 April 2027. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the figures the calculator uses are below, taken from GOV.UK's Income Tax rates and self-employed National Insurance rates pages. Welsh rates are set separately, and this year they are identical to England's.
These thresholds will not rise for some time: the government has frozen the Personal Allowance and basic rate limit until 5 April 2031. So when your prices go up with inflation, more of your profit lands in the higher bands.
Personal Allowance: £12,570
The first £12,570 of income is tax-free. Above £100,000 of adjusted net income, it falls by £1 for every £2 over, and it is zero from £125,140.
Income Tax bands
20% basic rate on income from £12,571 to £50,270. 40% higher rate from £50,271 to £125,140. 45% additional rate above £125,140.
Class 4 National Insurance
6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% on profits above £50,270. Class 4 thresholds are the same across the UK, Scotland included, and they do not taper at £100,000.
Scotland
Scottish taxpayers have different Income Tax bands and rates on profit, so the Income Tax figure here will be wrong for you. The Class 4 figure still applies.
Class 2 National Insurance: what changed
Self-employed people no longer have to pay Class 2. The government removed the requirement from 6 April 2024, so the calculator adds nothing for it.
What still matters is your State Pension record. For 2026/27, if your profit is £7,105 or more, Class 2 is treated as paid and the year counts towards your record at no cost. If profit is under £7,105, you can choose to pay voluntary Class 2 at £3.65 a week, which is £189.80 for a full 52 weeks. For someone with gaps in their National Insurance record, it can be a cheap way to fill them. If a PAYE job already gives you a qualifying year, it may not be needed. Check your record on GOV.UK before paying.
The £1,000 trading allowance or real expenses
You can take up to £1,000 a year off your trading income instead of claiming actual expenses. It is one or the other: use the allowance and you cannot deduct any expenses at all. If your real costs are over £1,000, claim them instead. If your gross trading income is £1,000 or less, you generally do not need to tell HMRC about it.
Take an electrician employed on £30,000 who does evening jobs on the side. The side work brings in £3,200 in the year, and the only costs are £400 of small parts the customers did not pay for separately.
- With real expenses: profit is £3,200 − £400 = £2,800. Income Tax at 20% is £560.
- With the trading allowance: profit is £3,200 − £1,000 = £2,200. Income Tax at 20% is £440.
- Class 4: nothing either way, because the side profit is under £12,570. Class 4 looks at self-employed profit on its own, not at the wage.
- The allowance saves £120 here. The tool's switch lets you compare both.
When you cannot use it
Not for income from your own company, from a partnership, or from your employer or your spouse's employer. GOV.UK lists the full set of exclusions on its trading allowance guidance.
Employed and self-employed at the same time
If you have a PAYE job as well, your Personal Allowance is normally used against your wages, so the business profit sits on top of them in the bands. That is why a side business can be taxed at 40% straight away when the wage is high, even on small profits.
The calculator handles this by working out Income Tax on wages plus profit, then taking away the tax that would already have come off the wages through PAYE. What is left is the extra Income Tax the business causes. It assumes your employer used a standard tax code. Class 1 National Insurance on your wages is separate and is not shown, because it is settled through payroll, not your tax return.
Say a plasterer earns £45,000 in a salaried job and makes £5,500 profit from weekend work. Wages plus profit come to £50,500, which is £230 over the higher rate threshold. The extra Income Tax is £1,146: £5,270 of the profit at 20% and £230 at 40%. There is no Class 4, because the profit is under £12,570.
How much to put away, and when it is due
The effective rate is the number to use for saving. On the tiler's £38,000 it is 17.4%, so moving about 18p of every £1 of profit into a separate account would cover the bill. Work it from profit, not turnover: put 18% of turnover aside and you would be saving far more than you need on a business with heavy costs.
For the 2026/27 year, the return and the balancing payment are due by 31 January 2028. Once your bill is £1,000 or more, HMRC will usually also ask for payments on account towards the following year, which can make the first January much bigger than people expect. The tax return calculator sets out each payment and its date.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started on 6 April 2026. If your self-employment and property income before expenses was over £50,000 in 2024/25, you should already be using it: digital records and a quarterly update to HMRC. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. The test is on turnover, not profit, and wages from a job do not count. HMRC says quarterly updates do not replace the tax return, and this calculator does the same sums either way.
What this calculator leaves out
This is an estimate for planning, not tax advice. It is built for a sole trader taxed in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, with business profit and, optionally, wages from one job. For anything unusual, or where the answer changes a decision, ask an accountant.
- Scottish Income Tax rates. Use the Class 4 figure only.
- Student loan repayments, which are collected through Self Assessment on top of tax.
- Pension contributions, Gift Aid, Marriage Allowance and the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
- Rent, savings interest, dividends and pensions. Dividends have their own rates: see the dividend tax calculator.
- CIS deductions already taken from your pay. They count towards the bill but the tool does not subtract them.
- Losses and capital allowances worked out in detail. Enter your allowable costs as expenses.
Common questions
How much tax will I pay if I'm self-employed?
Outside Scotland in 2026/27, the first £12,570 of profit is free of Income Tax, the slice up to £50,270 is taxed at 20%, and anything beyond at 40%. Class 4 National Insurance adds 6% on profit from £12,570 to £50,270 and 2% past that. On £38,000 of profit the two come to £6,611.80.
How much tax will I pay on £20,000 self-employed?
On £20,000 of profit (after expenses) in 2026/27, Income Tax is £1,486 (20% of £7,430) and Class 4 National Insurance is £445.80 (6% of £7,430). That is £1,931.80 in total, leaving £18,068.20, if you have no other income. If £20,000 is your turnover, take your expenses off first.
Do self-employed people pay 40% tax?
Yes, on any profit above £50,270 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2026/27), or on less if a job's wages already use up part of the basic rate band. Class 4 drops to 2% above the same line. On £65,000 of profit the total is £15,988.60, an effective rate of 24.6%.
How much tax do I pay if I'm employed and self-employed?
Your wages use your Personal Allowance and part of the 20% band first, through PAYE. The business profit is taxed on top, at whatever rate it lands in, plus Class 4 on the profit alone if it is over £12,570. Enter both in the calculator to see the extra tax the business adds.
Is Class 2 National Insurance still compulsory in 2026/27?
No. It stopped being compulsory on 6 April 2024. With profit of £7,105 or more it is treated as paid, so the year still counts for your State Pension. Below that, you can pay £3.65 a week voluntarily.
Can I claim the £1,000 trading allowance and my expenses?
No, it is one or the other for the year. The allowance suits side work with few costs. If your actual allowable expenses are more than £1,000, claiming them gives a lower profit and less tax.
What expenses can a sole trader claim?
Business running costs such as materials and stock, fuel and parking, work clothing like uniforms, insurance and bank charges, phone bills, advertising and website costs, subcontractor fees and training. For anything used privately too, such as a phone, you claim only the business share. GOV.UK's guide to expenses if you're self-employed has the full list.
When do I pay tax on my 2026/27 profit?
The tax return and the bill for 2026/27 are both due by 31 January 2028. If you also have to make payments on account for 2027/28, the first is due the same day and the second by 31 July 2028.
Is this the same as the GOV.UK self-employed tax calculator?
It uses the same published rates. At the time of writing, GOV.UK's own estimator covers the 2025/26 year and does not show payments on account. This one is set to 2026/27 and shows its working. Both are estimates.
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