Estimate inside IR35 contractor pay using day-rate, deemed employment, PAYE-style deductions, pension, and umbrella-style assumptions.
Inside IR35 means the engagement is treated as employment for tax, so whoever pays your company has to run PAYE Income Tax and employee National Insurance on the fee before you see it. The assignment rate is not a salary: employer National Insurance and the Apprenticeship Levy come out of it first, which is why the gross pay reaching payroll is well below the headline day rate.
The assignment rate is not your salary — employer National Insurance comes off it first. Both treatments are shown so you can see the gap.
Inside IR35, the £99,000 is an assignment rate, not a salary. £14,195 comes off it first as employer National Insurance, the Apprenticeship Levy and any umbrella margin — 14.34% of the headline rate — leaving £84,805 as your gross pay.
Outside IR35, the company pays £19,154 Corporation Tax, and the dividends carry £14,572 of dividend tax on top of a £12,570 salary.
This compares two tax treatments on the same contract value. It does not decide your status — that depends on how you actually work, and it is the client's determination for medium and large clients. See HMRC's CEST tool and the off-payroll working rules.
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
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The figures on this page are worked from inside IR35, using the values below. Open the calculator if your example salary differs.
Inside-IR35 planning can use a limited PAYE-style estimate, but this page does not decide whether the contract is inside IR35 or recreate a fee-payer payroll calculation.
Contractor outputs are scenario estimates only. PayBreakdown does not decide IR35 status, umbrella compliance, employment status, legal position, tax filing duties, or the best provider structure.
This estimate is worked out on £35,000 annual gross. Change any of those and the take-home figure moves; pension method and student loan plan usually move it most. A payslip can differ from any calculator because payroll works pay period by pay period, so a tax-code change, a bonus, arrears or a refund can land in one month and not the next. See how each deduction is worked out.
No. PayBreakdown does not decide IR35 status and does not replace CEST. Status can be contract-by-contract and may depend on contract terms and actual working practices.
Not in full. Working out what a limited company actually leaves you with means Corporation Tax on the profit first, then the split between a small salary and dividends, and then dividend tax on top — before VAT treatment, allowable expenses, pension contributions and accountancy fees are accounted for. The director salary and dividend calculator covers the salary-and-dividend part; the rest depends on your own accounts.
No. Umbrella estimates are planning estimates only. Real pay can differ because of the umbrella margin, holiday-pay treatment, pension, student loans, payroll period, expenses and provider-specific deductions.
No. It is not tax, legal, employment, accounting, payroll or financial advice. Check official GOV.UK sources, HMRC CEST, payroll, agency or professional guidance where needed.
Last updated 2026-08-27. Checked by Sean Elsmore. Rates last checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-07. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.