Plumber on £75,000

Sole Trader. Age 48. 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

£52,457

Pension

£0

Effective rate

25.1%

Marginal rate

42%

What the popular advice gets wrong at this income

Every accountancy thread, IR35 forum and contractor podcast has its own simple rule for handling a plumber at this income level. The popular rules are:

"Just take a £12,570 salary and dividend the rest" — works between roughly £40k and £80k of profit; breaks down above the £100,000 PA-taper cliff and around the £50k–£250k corporation-tax marginal-relief band.
"60% goes to the tax man on anything over £100k" — true within the £25,140-wide taper band, but it is the marginal rate, not the average. Most contractors hear "60%" and assume their whole income is being taxed at that rate, which is wrong.
"Pension contributions don't help if you only have a Ltd Co" — wrong. Employer pension contributions are deductible against corporation tax, attract no NI either side, and are not personal income — making them the single most powerful lever in the high-rate / taper bands.
"The optimal salary is exactly the secondary threshold" — historically true; in 2026/27 the secondary threshold (£5,000) is so low that ignoring the £5k–£12,570 region is leaving free Personal Allowance on the table.

For a plumber at £75,000 of gross, the BracketMath optimiser disagrees with at least one of those rules — that's why we built it.

Specifically: a sole trader at £75,000 of turnover often hears "you'll pay 30% in tax." The actual combined income tax + Class 4 + Class 2 figure for this row is £18,793 — an effective rate of 25.1% on turnover. The trading-allowance choice was rejected — actual expenses were larger.

The numbers, line by line

Gross income	£75,000
Net cash	£52,457
Pension contribution	£0
Total deductions	£18,793
Effective rate	25.1%
Marginal rate	42%
Years to age-57 pension access	9
Annual pension contribution (this row)	£0
Projected pot at 57 (5% real, single-path)	£0
Sustainable income @ 4% SWR	£0/yr

Why this scenario is different

Compared to the closest peer profile — Freelance designer at £75,000 — 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 £71,250 to £71,250 (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.

How many qualifying years do I need for the full new State Pension?

35 qualifying years for the full new State Pension. With fewer, the pension is pro-rated (1/35 per year). A minimum of 10 qualifying years is required for any new State Pension. Voluntary Class 2 (sole traders) or Class 3 (everyone else) can plug gaps in the NI record.

How much can I put into pension this year?

The 2026/27 pension Annual Allowance is £60,000. Below £260,000 of adjusted income the full £60,000 Annual Allowance is available. Carry-forward of unused AA from the last three tax years is available subject to membership-in-each-year rules.

Should I pay voluntary Class 2 NI even if my profits are below the threshold?

Usually yes. Class 2 voluntary contributions cost £179.40/yr (£3.45/week × 52) and buy a State Pension qualifying year. The Full New State Pension as of 2026 is £230.25/wk (£11,973/yr) and you need 35 qualifying years to get the full amount. One year of voluntary Class 2 buys roughly £342 of annual State Pension at retirement — a payback period of about 6 months on first claim.

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.