Free tool
The income you actually want, working backwards.
Say you want $100,000 in your account. That's not what you have to earn, and it's nowhere near what you have to invoice. This works backwards from the number you want to the rate that gets you there.
Take-home pay for the year, after tax. The money you actually live on.
Hours a customer pays for, not hours you're at it.
52 minus holidays and washouts.
Ute, fuel, insurance, phone, tools, accountant, advertising.
Working backwards
Most people start with a rate and hope the year works out. This does it the other way round: the money you want, then the tax on top of it, then the cost of running the business, then divided by the hours you can bill.
You need to charge
$115/hr
to clear $100,000 after tax on 1,380 billable hours
The bit between what you want and what you charge
You want $100,000. To get there the business has to earn $133,512, because $33,512 of it goes to tax and the Medicare levy before you see a cent.
Then there’s $25,200 of overheads on top. So the invoices have to add up to $158,712 — and that’s the bit people forget when they pick a rate that sounds about right.
What this assumes
- Australian resident tax rates at 2024–25 thresholds, including the 2% Medicare levy.
- Excludes HELP or HECS debt, tax offsets, and super. If you've got a study debt or you're paying yourself super, you'll need to earn more than this says.
- The take-home figure is your money after tax. Overheads are handled separately, on top.
- Hours on the tools means billable hours — the ones a customer pays for, not the ones you spend quoting and driving.
- Materials aren't in the rate. They get charged to each job on their own.
Estimates only. This is a planning tool, not financial or tax advice — your own accountant knows your numbers better than a calculator does.
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