Contractor take-home · 2026/27 tax year
£650 a day inside and outside IR35
£650 a day for 220 days is £143,000 a year before tax. Inside IR35 through an umbrella company you take home about £77,490 (£6,457 a month). Outside IR35 through your own limited company you take home about £82,502 (£6,875 a month), which is £5,012 more.
Figures checked against GOV.UK on .
Billed a year
£143,000
220 days at £650
Inside IR35
£77,490
take-home, umbrella
Outside IR35
£82,502
take-home, limited company
Difference
£5,012
a year
Where £143,000 goes inside IR35
The umbrella company takes its costs out of the day rate before it pays you a salary through PAYE.
| Per year | Per month | |
|---|---|---|
| Billed by the umbrella | £143,000 | £11,917 |
| Umbrella fee (£25 a week) | −£1,100 | −£92 |
| Employer National Insurance (15%) | −£17,776 | −£1,481 |
| Apprenticeship Levy (0.5%) | −£618 | −£51 |
| Your gross salary | £123,506 | £10,292 |
| Income Tax | −£41,536 | −£3,461 |
| Employee National Insurance | −£4,481 | −£373 |
| Take-home | £77,490 | £6,457 |
Where £143,000 goes outside IR35
Your company pays you a £12,570 salary, pays Corporation Tax on the profit and pays out what is left as dividends.
| Per year | Per month | |
|---|---|---|
| Billed by your company | £143,000 | £11,917 |
| Director salary | −£12,570 | −£1,048 |
| Employer NI on salary | −£1,136 | −£95 |
| Running costs | −£1,500 | −£125 |
| Corporation Tax | −£30,116 | −£2,510 |
| Dividends paid to you | £97,679 | £8,140 |
| Salary plus dividends | £110,249 | £9,187 |
| Tax on salary and dividends | −£27,747 | −£2,312 |
| Take-home | £82,502 | £6,875 |
£650 a day by days worked
Take-home per year. Fewer billable days means less income but also a smaller share lost to higher-rate tax.
| Days a year | Billed | Inside IR35 | Outside IR35 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 160 days | £104,000 | £62,757 | £66,390 | £3,633 |
| 180 days | £117,000 | £69,002 | £72,529 | £3,528 |
| 200 days | £130,000 | £73,246 | £78,513 | £5,267 |
| 220 days | £143,000 | £77,490 | £82,502 | £5,012 |
| 240 days | £156,000 | £83,164 | £86,491 | £3,327 |
What permanent salary this is worth
An employee would need a salary of about £123,507 to match the inside IR35 take-home, and about £133,426 to match outside IR35. That ignores holiday pay, sick pay and employer pension, which a permanent job adds on top.
The £100,000 trap inside IR35
Your umbrella salary of £123,506 is over £100,000, so you lose £1 of Personal Allowance for every £2 above it. Paying into a pension through the umbrella's salary sacrifice scheme brings that income down and gets back the tax-free allowance.
Corporation Tax marginal relief
The company makes £127,795 profit, which sits between £50,000 and £250,000. The first £50,000 is effectively taxed at 19% and the rest at 26.5%, giving a total Corporation Tax bill of £30,116.
Dividend tax outside IR35
Your salary and dividends add up to £110,249, so £59,979 of the dividends fall in the higher-rate band and are taxed at 35.75%. Dividend tax comes to £26,722, paid through Self Assessment by 31 January after the tax year ends.
In Scotland
Inside IR35 a Scottish taxpayer takes home £72,427, £5,063 less than in the rest of the UK, because the umbrella salary is taxed at Scottish rates. Outside IR35 the difference is £40, because the tapered allowance puts part of the salary into Scottish tax bands.
What one more day is worth
Billing one more day at £650 adds about £212 to your take-home inside IR35, 33% of the day rate, because the top of your umbrella salary is in the £100,000 to £125,140 range, where the Personal Allowance is withdrawn. Outside IR35 it adds about £199 (31%), with your top slice of dividends in the same band. So an extra day is worth almost the same either way.
The gap per day billed
The £5,012 gap works out at £22.78 for each day you bill. That equals about 7.7 days' billing at £650: between one and two working weeks of work a year. At £675 a day it narrows by £591 to £4,421.
The next tax threshold
At about £659 a day, your umbrella salary inside IR35 reaches the £125,140 additional-rate threshold, so the next rate up on this site already crosses it. At about £743 a day, your salary plus dividends outside IR35 reaches the £125,140 additional-rate threshold, which is £93 a day above this rate.
Guides and definitions
- High Income Child Benefit Charge: how it is worked out and cut (Guide)
- How to read your payslip: every line explained, with an example (Guide)
- National Insurance rates 2026/27: what you pay and how it works (Guide)
- Emergency tax code (An emergency tax code, marked W1, M1 or X, taxes each payday on its own, as if you were paid that amount every period of the year.)
- Marginal tax rate (Your marginal tax rate is the share of your next pound or dollar of income that goes in tax and deductions.)
- P11D (A P11D is the form UK employers send HMRC by 6 July to report each employee's taxable benefits and expenses that were not taxed through payroll.)
- P60 (A P60 is the yearly summary of your pay and tax from one employer, due by 31 May if you work there on 5 April.)
- Personal Allowance (The Personal Allowance is the income you can earn each UK tax year before Income Tax starts: £12,570 for 2026/27.)
Other day rates
- £575 a day (£72,061 in · £77,016 out)
- £600 a day (£73,871 in · £79,126 out)
- £625 a day (£75,680 in · £80,814 out)
- £675 a day (£79,769 in · £84,190 out)
- £700 a day (£82,292 in · £85,877 out)
- £725 a day (£84,816 in · £87,565 out)
Every day rate inside and outside IR35 · £124,000 salary after tax · Change the days, umbrella fee or company costs
Common questions
How much is £650 a day a year?
£143,000 over 220 working days. Over 230 days it would be £149,500, and over 200 days £130,000. Contractors are not paid for holidays or bank holidays, so 220 days is a common planning figure.
What is £650 a day inside IR35 after tax?
About £77,490 a year, or £6,457.50 a month, through an umbrella company charging £25 a week. The umbrella's gross salary is £123,506 after it pays £17,776 employer National Insurance and £618 Apprenticeship Levy out of the rate.
What is £650 a day outside IR35 after tax?
About £82,502 a year, or £6,875.14 a month, with a £12,570 salary and the rest paid as dividends. The company pays £30,116 Corporation Tax and you pay £27,747 personal tax.
What permanent salary is £650 a day equivalent to?
For the same take-home pay you would need a salary of about £123,507 compared with working inside IR35, or £133,426 compared with outside IR35, before counting holiday pay and pension.
Is £650 a day worth more outside IR35?
Yes, by about £5,012 a year at 220 days. Outside IR35 you also carry more admin and risk: running a company, filing accounts and Self Assessment, and paying for your own insurance.
Sources and assumptions
- 220 billable days a year, an umbrella fee of £25 a week and £1,500 a year of limited company running costs.
- Inside IR35: the day rate is an umbrella rate, so employer National Insurance and the Apprenticeship Levy come out of it. No pension or student loan.
- Outside IR35: a single-director company that cannot claim Employment Allowance, a £12,570 salary and all profit paid as dividends in the same tax year.
- Tax on dividends
- Corporation Tax rates and reliefs
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- Understanding off-payroll working (IR35)
- Employment Allowance: check if you're eligible
- Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances
- Scottish Income Tax
These are estimates. Your own figures depend on your umbrella, your accountant's advice, expenses and any other income.