What does your hour have to cost?
Target profit divided by 52 × 40 hours – that is how rates come about that fall short at the end of the year. This calculator adds two things that regularly get lost: the business expenses your revenue also has to carry, and the weeks in which you do not bill.
Result
Your hourly rate, net
€78.26
- Billable hours per year20 hrs × 46 weeks
- 920
- Required annual revenue, netTarget profit plus business expenses
- €72,000.00
- What you keep after the reserveRule of thumb: 30% of profit for income tax
- €42,000.00
A calculation aid, not a pricing recommendation: what you can charge in the market depends on your work, your industry and negotiation. The reserve share is a rule of thumb and does not replace advice from a tax advisor.
Why a rate that is too low shows up late.
Every hour counts as billable. Writing estimates, bookkeeping, finding clients, training – that is work, but nobody pays for it directly. If you work 40 hours and bill 20 of them, you need twice the rate.
Vacation and sick days are missing from the math. As an employee you keep getting paid for them; as a self-employed person you do not. Six weeks without billing raise the required hourly rate noticeably – which is why they are an input here and not a silent assumption.
Profit gets confused with what you keep. Income tax still comes off the profit. That is why the calculator shows both numbers: the profit your rate earns and what is left after the reserve. How high your tax actually turns out depends on your individual case – the percentage here is a rule of thumb, not a calculation.
Break down your tax reserve in more detail →From the calculated rate to the paid invoice.
Sumaro brings estimate, invoice, incoming payment and open receivable together – so the rate you calculated actually arrives in your account.