Freelance developer on £70,000

Sole Trader. Age 36. Pension preference: aggressive.

Every figure on this page is computed at build time by the same engines that power the live salary–dividend split, take-home and SIPP optimiser calculators. Inputs come from a single CSV row; outputs come from the engines. No static lookup tables, no hand-coded numbers.

Net cash

£49,702

Pension

£0

Effective rate

24%

Marginal rate

42%

The four tax mechanisms acting on this income

For a freelance developer at £70,000 of gross income on the sole-trader route in 2026/27, four mechanisms determine the bottom line:

The Personal Allowance — £12,570 of income at 0% income tax. This row sits below £100,000 of adjusted net income, so the full £12,570 PA is available.
The £50,270 higher-rate threshold — income tax jumps from 20% to 40% above this number. Dividend tax simultaneously jumps from 8.75% to 33.75%.
National Insurance — at Class 4 rates of 6% (£12,570–£50,270) and 2% (above £50,270) on profits, plus the optional £179.40 Class 2 contribution to maintain a State Pension qualifying year.
The trading allowance — £1,000 flat deduction available in lieu of actual expenses (ITTOIA 2005 s.783A). The engine picks whichever produces lower taxable profits.

Run those four mechanisms in sequence and the bottom line for this row is £49,702 of net cash, against £16,798 of taxes / NI / fees lost through the chain — an effective rate of 24%.

The numbers, line by line

Turnover	£70,000
Taxable profits	£66,500
Trading allowance vs actual expenses	Actual expenses
Income tax	£14,032
Class 4 NI	£2,587
Class 2 NI (voluntary)	£179
Net cash (year)	£49,702
Net cash (monthly)	£4,142
Hours-equivalent at NLW (£12.21/hr)	4,071 hrs
Effective rate	24%
Same turnover as Ltd Co (no pension)	£50,231
Incorporate vs stay sole trader	+£529 for Ltd Co

Why this scenario is different

Compared to the closest peer profile — Electrician at £70,000 — this scenario sits £0 higher on gross income. That moves net cash by +£0, the pension contribution by +£0, and the effective rate by +0%. The effective rate moves only modestly — both scenarios sit inside the same binding tax band. Taxable profits change from £66,500 to £66,500 (after the trading-allowance / actual-expenses choice).

Questions this scenario raises

Why does the page link to specific other professions?

The five linked pages at the bottom are computed by a similarity metric over (profession, income, structure, age band) — the closest five neighbours in that space, not the same five pages every row links to. The aim is a genuine cross-link graph rather than a star pattern that search engines correctly read as a pSEO signal.

Is this calculation valid for the 2027/28 tax year?

Only partially. Thresholds (PA, basic-rate, higher-rate, NI thresholds) are frozen through April 2028 per the Autumn Budget 2024. Some rates may change at the Spring 2027 Budget. The figures here are accurate for 2026/27 and will be re-run after any future Finance Act changes — check the published-date footer of this page.

How do I model my partner's income alongside mine?

BracketMath models a single tax entity — there is no joint-couple calculation. For couples, the practical approach is to run each partner separately and consider income-splitting strategies (employing the lower-earning spouse for genuine work performed, sharing dividends if both are shareholders, etc). The Ltd Co spousal share pattern is sketched in /guides/ltd-company-director-tax.

Are the engine assumptions documented anywhere?

Yes — every constant lives in src/lib/tax/constants.ts with a source-URL comment. Every engine function is unit-tested against HMRC examples (180+ test cases). The full methodology is at /about and the per-engine assumptions are spelled out at the foot of each calculator.

Are the numbers on this page computed live or pre-rendered?

They are pre-rendered at build time by running the BracketMath engine code against the inputs for this specific row. That means: zero JavaScript on the page for the calculation itself, the figures cannot drift if the engine is changed, and you can verify them by running the corresponding calculator with the same inputs.

Methodology

Income tax, National Insurance and Corporation Tax bands taken from HMRC's 2026/27 rates and allowances tables (gov.uk/.../income-tax; corporation-tax). Pension Annual Allowance and taper rules from Finance Act 2004 / 2023. Trading allowance per ITTOIA 2005 s.783A. Voluntary Class 2 figure (£179.40/yr = £3.45/wk × 52) from HMRC voluntary NI guidance.

Style: 2026/27 tax year throughout; figures rounded to whole pounds in the user-facing prose; effective rates computed as (deductions / gross). The voice is methodological — no first person, no claimed credentials, no marketing fluff.

This page is not personalised advice; for advice regulated by the FCA, consult an adviser registered with the Financial Conduct Authority. See the full disclaimer.