Answers · UK 2025/26

What is my take-home on a £550 day rate inside IR35 in 2026/27?

On a £550 day rate inside IR35 working about 220 days a year, your gross fees are roughly £121,000. After employer National Insurance, the Apprenticeship Levy, employee tax and employee National Insurance are deducted through PAYE, your net take-home is around £67,000 to £74,200 a year, depending on pension contributions and the fee payer's exact deductions.

Last updated: 10 July 2026Last reviewed: 10 July 2026How we verify

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Inside IR35 means HMRC treats you as an employee for tax, so the fee payer deducts Income Tax and employee National Insurance through PAYE before paying you, and also accounts for employer National Insurance and the Apprenticeship Levy. A £550 day rate over roughly 220 working days gives gross fees of about £121,000. From this the employer National Insurance at 15% on earnings above £5,000 and the 0.5% Apprenticeship Levy are usually taken out of the assignment rate first, reducing the amount treated as your deemed salary to roughly £105,400. On that deemed salary you then pay Income Tax of about £30,700 (using the 20% basic and 40% higher-rate bands, with the Personal Allowance also starting to taper above £100,000) and employee National Insurance of about £4,120 (8% then 2% above the Upper Earnings Limit). The result is net take-home of broadly £67,000 to £74,200 a year, although the exact figure depends on whether employer costs are deducted from your rate before or after any umbrella margin, and on pension contributions. Making employer pension contributions through an umbrella or deemed payment arrangement is highly tax-efficient inside IR35, especially once the Personal Allowance taper is in play, because it reduces both Income Tax and National Insurance on the sacrificed amount. Use the contractor take-home or take-home pay calculator to model your day rate, days worked and pension.