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IR35 calculator: inside vs outside take-home

Enter your contract rate to see what you would take home inside IR35 and outside IR35, side by side, and the rate you would need inside IR35 to match it.

£

This is the assignment rate the agency pays out. It is the same figure whether the contract is inside or outside IR35.

Working outside IR35 through your own limited company, you could be better off by

£0

Outside IR35 (your own limited company)
Take-home pay could be
£0
Inside IR35 (umbrella company)
Take-home pay could be
£0

The take-home figure is only the start

To compare fairly with an inside-IR35 contract, this calculator assumes you draw every penny of profit as dividends in the same tax year, which is the least efficient thing you can do. Working outside IR35 through your own limited company also gives you options like these:

Smooth your income You decide when money leaves the company. Profit can stay in the business and be drawn when it suits you, and how you arrange it can flex around your circumstances as they change.
Pension contributions from company profit Employer contributions come out of pre-tax profit, with full flexibility over timing and amount. Scale them up or down as your circumstances change.
Run an electric vehicle Put an EV through the company at a 4% benefit in kind, if and when it suits you.
Tax relief on your expenses Equipment, software, travel and training are paid for before tax, and you decide what the business needs. An umbrella worker pays for the same things out of taxed income.

At typical contract rates, the difference between the assumption above and a planned approach can run into five figures a year on top of the difference shown, and almost none of it is available inside IR35, where tax is taken before the money reaches you. What applies to you depends on your circumstances.

Change the assumptions

Expenses are exclusive of accountancy fees, which have been baked in for outside IR35. Expenses include travel to a temporary workplace. A limited company outside IR35 gets tax relief on these. Inside IR35 through an umbrella, where HMRC presumes you are under supervision, direction or control, there is no relief, so you pay for the same things out of taxed income.

Book a discovery call

Not sure where your contract sits? Start with our guide to IR35. Already outside IR35? See what you would keep with the contractor take-home pay calculator.

Figures: 2026/27 tax year, rest of UK rates (Scottish rates are not modelled). Inside IR35 is modelled as umbrella employment, the most common way an inside contract is paid; a deemed payment through your own company gives a broadly similar result. Assumes 37.5 hours over 5 days, no pension, no student loan and no other income. Calculations are for illustration only and are not tax advice.