u/Emergency_Brush_7721 — reddlx

Most rate calculators online make the same mistake: they only subtract income tax from your target salary. They ignore self-employment / social contribution tax entirely.

In the US, that's an extra 14.13% on top of income tax. In France it's 22%. In Sweden it's 28.5%. This isn't a rounding error — it's the difference between quoting $85/hr and going broke.

The formula that actually works:

Start with your target take-home
Gross up for income tax + self-employment tax combined
Then add your overhead (health insurance, equipment, pension, software — usually 15–20%)
Then divide by your actual billable hours (not 52 weeks × 40 hrs — account for vacation, sick days, admin time)

Most freelancers skip steps 2 and 3 entirely and end up undercharging by 30–40%.

I built a free tool that does this properly for 40 countries.
Happy to share the link if mods allow — didn't want to post it unprompted.