For self employed decorators

Self employed painter and decorator hourly rate

Charge £42.67 an hour and you keep £29.67.

That is £256 a day, to take home £35,500 after 2026/27 tax.

Going self employed did not raise your pay. It moved the bills into your column.

Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance at real 2026/27 rates, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.

£42.67an hour, what the sum asks for

£8,056a year in tax and National Insurance

£31,100your employer used to pay

Of every £42.67 hour, £6.33 goes on running costs and £6.67 on tax.

You keep £29.67, on ordinary costs over six paid hours a day.

The going rate of £200 a day lands £8,318 a year short of that take home.

Quotable

A self employed painter and decorator in the UK needs to charge £256 a day to take home £35,500 a year after 2026/27 Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance, according to Rate Sorted's model built on five UK rate directories and gov.uk tax rates.

What did the wage feel like?

£178

The part of each day you keep, once costs and tax have gone.

What has to be invoiced for it?

£256

Costs first, then tax, then you. In that order, every single day.

The gap between those two numbers is the whole job of going self employed.

Work out your own numberFree, no login, and nothing is stored unless you ask for the PDF.

What did my employer actually pay for?

Everything that is now on your card comes to £31,100 a year on the modelled decorator.

Not one line of it vanished. You pay it now.

The bills that changed hands, and what each one costs

Priced on the calculator's default decorator: 200 paid days at £256.

Holiday and the unpaid days are priced at that same rate, because that is what the time was worth.

Van and fuel£6,000

The firm ran the van

Insurance and cover£220

The firm's policy covered you

Tools and gear£864

The firm bought the kit

Accountant, phone, software£600

The office did the paperwork

Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance£8,056

Payroll took it before you saw it

Holiday and sick pay, six weeks£7,680

The firm paid you anyway

Quoting, chasing and paperwork, 30 days£7,680

It happened on the firm’s clock

£31,100, across seven lines. An employer paid every one of them.

Now they come out of the same day rate the customer is arguing about.

Quotable

Rate Sorted's 2026 model puts the cost an employer used to carry for a decorator at £31,100 a year, covering the van, insurance, tools, admin, 2026/27 tax and National Insurance, plus six weeks of unpaid holiday and 30 unpaid working days.

The day rate itself is worked out on why the going rate is not a fair rate.

The £39 Decorator Rate Book prices every job, writes the quote and the invoice, and puts the tax by.See what is in it

Where does one day's money actually go?

One day of your rate. Costs, tax and what is left.

Out of every £256 day, £38 of running costs is gone before you have even parked the van.

Another £40 belongs to HMRC and is not yours to spend.

£178 is the bit that reaches you.

One day at £256, divided three ways

Costs, then tax, then you. Always that order.

One day invoiced£256

£38costs

£40tax

£178yours

The customer haggles over the whole bar, while you only ever negotiate the last piece.

Which tax thresholds will I cross, and at what day rate?

VAT, Making Tax Digital and the bands, with the day rate that crosses each.

Four lines matter, and each one has a day rate attached.

At £256 a day you are already past two of them.

Two of these count your profit and two count your turnover.

Mixing those up is expensive.

The statutory lines, drawn as day rates

Each threshold converted to the day rate that reaches it on 200 paid days.

Read the tag on each row. Profit and turnover are not the same number and never will be.

Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance both start£12,570measured on profit

£101 a day

Profit above £12,570 is taxed at 20%. Class 4 takes another 6% from the same pound.

Making Tax Digital applies to you£50,000measured on turnover

£250 a day

Quarterly updates to HMRC, not one return a year. It keys off turnover, not profit.

Class 4 drops and the higher rate starts£50,270measured on profit

£290 a day

Class 4 falls to 2%, but Income Tax rises to 40%. The bill goes up, not down.

You must register for VAT£90,000measured on turnover

£450 a day

Rolling twelve month taxable turnover, before a single expense comes off.

£256, what the sum asks for

Statutory thresholds for a UK sole trader decorator, 2026/27, with the day rate that reaches each one
Threshold	Amount	Counted on	Day rateon 200 paid days
Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance both start	£12,570	Profit	£101
Making Tax Digital applies to you	£50,000	Turnover	£250
Class 4 drops and the higher rate starts	£50,270	Profit	£290
You must register for VAT	£90,000	Turnover	£450

Scroll the table sideways. The day rate column is there.

Look at the Making Tax Digital line.

It arrives at £250 a day. Below the rate this page argues for.

Charge what the sum says and quarterly reporting is not a someday problem. It is yours already.

Quotable

On 200 paid days a year, a UK sole trader decorator reaches the £50,000 Making Tax Digital turnover threshold at £250 a day and the £90,000 VAT registration threshold at £450 a day, on 2026/27 figures published by gov.uk.

According to gov.ukthe £50,000 Making Tax Digital threshold is measured on qualifying income.That means gross turnover before expenses. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
According to gov.ukVAT registration is compulsory once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling twelve months.Register for VAT: when to register

What is my real tax rate as a sole trader?

Income Tax plus Class 4, on profit rather than on turnover.

26% on the next pound, at the profit this page argues for.

Not 20%. That is the Income Tax rate on its own.

Class 4 National Insurance adds 6% to the same pound.

What one more pound of profit actually leaves

Measured by running the tax engine at a profit and again one pound higher.

Adding the headline rates together goes wrong at every band edge, so nothing here is added by hand.

On profit inside the basic rate band26% gone

At £31,420 of profit you keep 74% of the next pound.

On the profit this page argues for26% gone

At £43,556 of profit you keep 74% of the next pound.

On profit just above the higher rate line42% gone

At £51,270 of profit you keep 58% of the next pound.

The jump lands the moment profit passes £50,270.

Class 4 drops to 2% there, and Income Tax rises to 40%. The bill still goes up.

Quotable

A UK sole trader decorator pays a combined marginal rate of 26% on profit inside the basic rate band for 2026/27, made up of 20% Income Tax and 6% Class 4 National Insurance, per gov.uk published rates.

According to gov.ukthe personal allowance is £12,570 and the basic rate is 20% for 2026/27.Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances
According to gov.ukClass 4 National Insurance is 6% on profit between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above it.Self employed National Insurance rates

Put your own figures inFree, no login, and nothing is stored unless you ask for the PDF.

Why does the wage comparison always fail?

A wage buys holiday, sick pay and a pension. A day rate buys none of it.

Because a wage and a day rate are different kinds of number.

A wage was net. Somebody had already taken everything out of it.

A day rate is gross. Everything still has to come out.

Comparing the two directly is how a decorator ends up £8,318 short and cannot say why.

Your old wage

What was left

Your day rate

What comes in

The difference

£31,100 of bills

Quotable

An employed wage is a net figure and a self employed day rate is a gross one, so comparing them directly understates what a UK decorator needs to charge by £31,100 a year on Rate Sorted's 2026 model.

When does Making Tax Digital start for me?

The line comes down twice more, and the last step catches nearly every sole trader.

Being under today's line is not the end of it. The line does not stay where it is.

It keys off turnover, which is everything invoiced before a single expense comes off, never profit.

6 Apr 2026, £50,000 of turnoverAbout £250 a day. This is the line in force now.
6 Apr 2027, £30,000 of turnoverAbout £150 a day.
6 Apr 2028, £20,000 of turnoverAbout £100 a day.

Those day rates are the same 200 paid days this whole page is built on.

The rate this page argues for already clears the final step, so this is a question of when, not whether.

Quotable

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches sole traders in three dated steps, falling to £20,000 of gross turnover from 6 Apr 2028, which is about £100 a day across 200 billable days on Rate Sorted's 2026 model.

What should I do about it this week?

Open a second account and feed it £40 a dayEvery invoiced day. The 31 Jan 2028 bill stops being an event.
Price the year, not the day£51,240 has to come in to leave £35,500. Work backwards from that.
Check which line you have already crossedMaking Tax Digital arrives at £250 a day, well before VAT does.
Stop comparing your rate to your old wageCompare it to £31,100 of bills your employer used to carry.

Put your own figures inYour bills, your days, your tax. About a minute.

The rest of the answer

The day rate page and the hourly page, if you want the whole argument.

This page is the tax half. The other two are the rate and the hour.

How much should a decorator charge?The day rate itself, the 200 paid days it divides by, and why the market number is not your number.Free painting and decorating quote templateWhat the rate looks like once it is written into a quote your customer can read.Painter and decorator hourly rateWhat the day rate becomes once you divide it, and why the published hourly figure means little.

Common tax questions

£8,056

Tax and National Insurance in a year, on the sum this page works.

£40

To set aside out of every day you invoice.

26%

Of the next pound of profit, gone, inside the basic band.

£31,100

Your employer used to pay this, every year.

Do I pay tax on my day rate or on my profit?

On profit, which is the £51,240 you invoice less the £7,684 it costs to trade.

Income Tax starts above £12,570 of profit at 20%.

Class 4 National Insurance takes 6% from the same pound.

Two taxes, one profit figure. Both begin on the same day.

How much should I put aside for tax as a self employed decorator?

On the sum this page works, £8,056 a year.

That is £6,197 of Income Tax and £1,859 of Class 4.

Put £40 of every day you invoice into a second account.

The bill is due 31 Jan 2028 and it will not be a surprise.

When do I have to register for VAT?

At £90,000 of rolling twelve month taxable turnover.

Turnover, not profit. Before a single expense comes off.

On the modelled 200 paid days that is a day rate of £450.

A long way above what this page argues for, so it is a line to know rather than one to worry about yet.

Does going self employed mean I keep more of what I earn?

No. You pay for what your employer used to.

£31,100 a year, across seven lines.

None of it disappeared. It moved column.

Do Scottish tax bands change what I should charge?

Barely. Where you work changes it far more.

Scotland has six income tax bands rather than three, so the same profit lands slightly differently.

The modelled town rate moves the answer by tens of pounds a day.

The bands move it by a fraction of that. Only above the intermediate band.

Do I still need to file if I made almost nothing?

There is a £1,000 trading allowance. Below it there is nothing to declare.

Class 2 National Insurance is voluntary at £3.65 a week.

Below £7,105 of profit paying it is what protects the State Pension record.

That is the one bill worth volunteering for.

Tax: 2026/27 Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance for a sole trader, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027.Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances, gov.ukSelf employed National Insurance rates, gov.ukRegister for VAT: when to register, gov.ukMaking Tax Digital for Income Tax, gov.ukIncome Tax in Scotland, the Scottish GovernmentAnnual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the Office for National StatisticsUK House Price Index, HM Land RegistryRates: the median of five UK directories, blended with official earnings and house price data.England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own bands and the calculator carries them.Costs and days: the calculator's default decorator. Yours will differ, which is the whole point of the tool.Rates reviewed October 2026 · Tax figures reviewed July 2026How we model these rates

Take this worked example away

The figures on this page as a one page PDF, built in your browser.

Put your own figures inFree, no login, and nothing is stored unless you ask for the PDF.

See what is in itThe £39 Decorator Rate Book helps you price jobs, plan tax and track unpaid invoices.

Reviewed on 18 August 2026.

These figures use the same sums as the free calculator. The two always agree.