The self employed tax calculator.
See your tax, your National Insurance, your take home, and exactly how much to set aside. Then see what your costs take off the bill. No account needed.
Your year
Rough figures are fine. It works out as you type.
Everything you got paid before costs, across the year.
Materials, fuel, tools, mileage, phone, the lot. This is what Lekhio captures for you.
What it means
Put in what you were paid this year and your tax appears here.
An estimate for 2026/27. Income tax is worked out at the England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates. It assumes self employment income only and the standard personal allowance. Not tax advice for your exact situation.
The number that matters is the expenses one.
Every pound of business cost you claim comes off your profit, and the tax comes off with it. A receipt you forget is a cost you never claim. Lekhio captures it all from a text, so the calculator above always works in your favour.
This calculator is a free estimate to help you plan, not tax advice for your exact situation. Lekhio is an independent UK company, not HMRC. You stay responsible for your tax, and nothing is ever sent to HMRC without your approval.
Questions people ask
How much tax does a sole trader outside Scotland pay in 2026/27?
You pay income tax on profit above the £12,570 personal allowance: 20% on the first £37,700 of taxable income, 40% from there until £125,140 and 45% above. You also pay Class 4 National Insurance: 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above. Class 2 is voluntary since April 2024. Scotland sets its own income tax rates and bands on trading profit, wages and rent. National Insurance is the same across the UK.
How much should a self employed person set aside for tax?
For a sole trader outside Scotland with no other income and the standard personal allowance, income tax and Class 4 together come to at most 19.5% of profit at 2026/27 rates, while the profit stays in the basic rate band, and well under that on smaller profits. A job or a pension alongside can use up the personal allowance, and then profit is taxed from the first pound, at 20% or more, plus 6% Class 4 on profit over £12,570. In the year payments on account start, January can ask for up to half as much again. For self employment income alone, this calculator works out the figure for your numbers, including National Insurance and payments on account.
What are payments on account?
Once your Self Assessment bill is £1,000 or more, HMRC also asks for two advance payments towards next year, each half of this year’s bill, due 31 January and 31 July, on top of the balancing payment. It does not if more than four fifths of your tax for the year was already taken at source, through your tax code at work or by CIS. You send each payment yourself.