Freelance Rate Calculator Tax Year 2026
Work backwards from your income goal to find the hourly rate you need to charge after taxes and expenses.
What you want to keep after all taxes and expenses.
Most freelancers bill 20-30 hours per week (the rest is admin, marketing, etc.).
48 weeks accounts for vacation and sick time.
Software, equipment, insurance, coworking, etc.
If you also have W-2 income, it affects your tax brackets.
Child Tax Credit: $2,200 per child (2026).
Self-employed health insurance deduction (above-the-line).
Above-the-line deduction. SEP IRA max: 25% of net SE income (up to $70,000).
Enter your target take-home pay to see results
This calculator works backwards from your income goal to determine the hourly rate you need to charge.
Required Hourly Rate
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Required Gross Revenue
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Total Estimated Tax
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Effective Tax Rate
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Daily Rate (8hr day)
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Monthly Revenue Target
Project Rate Card
| Engagement Length | Rate |
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Revenue Breakdown
| Component | Amount |
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Rate Comparison
How different hourly rates translate to actual take-home pay.
| Hourly Rate | Gross Revenue | Total Tax | Take-Home |
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Important: This calculator provides estimates for informational purposes only. It is not tax, legal, or financial advice.
Your actual tax liability depends on deductions, credits, other income, and factors not captured here.
Consult a qualified tax professional for your specific situation.
Continue with your numbers
How This Calculator Works
Reverse-Calculation Methodology
Unlike a standard tax calculator that starts with income and computes taxes, this calculator works backwards from your desired take-home pay. The challenge is that taxes depend on income, but income is what we are solving for.
- Binary search: We use an iterative binary search algorithm to find the gross self-employment income that, after subtracting all taxes, yields your target take-home pay. The search starts with a low bound equal to your target and a high bound of 3x that amount, narrowing until the result is within $10 accuracy.
- Tax computation: At each iteration, we compute federal self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings), federal income tax (using 2026 progressive brackets after standard deduction, half-SE deduction, and QBI deduction), and state income tax.
- Add business expenses: Once the required net SE income is found, we add your annual business expenses to get the total gross revenue you need to generate.
- Divide by hours: Gross revenue divided by your annual billable hours (hours/week times weeks/year) gives the required hourly rate.
- Derived rates: Daily rate (hourly times 8), monthly revenue (gross divided by 12), and project rates for standard engagement lengths.