About RateCoach — Free Transparent Contractor Tax Calculators
RateCoach helps UK contractors compare take-home pay across inside IR35, outside IR35, and umbrella company structures using free, transparent calculators powered by current HMRC rates.
We believe UK contractors should be able to compare their take-home pay across different contracting structures without opaque assumptions or hidden calculations. Every formula on RateCoach is published on our methodology page, and every tax rate is linked to its official HMRC source so you can verify every number yourself.
The calculators are designed to be a starting point for contractor financial planning, not a replacement for professional advice. We surface the key levers — IR35 status, pension contributions, student loan plans, and location — so you can model different scenarios before speaking to your accountant.
RateCoach was built by a UK-based team with backgrounds in software engineering, tax technology, and financial services. We experienced first-hand how difficult it is for contractors to get a clear, side-by-side comparison of take-home pay across different IR35 scenarios without paying for accounting software or trusting opaque agency calculators.
Our calculators are reviewed against published HMRC rates, and we update them within two weeks of any Budget announcement that changes tax thresholds or rates.
What We Do
RateCoach provides a suite of free interactive calculators for UK contractors:
How We Ensure Accuracy
HMRC-Sourced Rates
Every tax band, NI threshold, and allowance on RateCoach is sourced from official HMRC publications and linked to the GOV.UK source page in our methodology.
Update Commitment
We update all calculators within 14 days of any Budget, Autumn Statement, or fiscal event that changes tax rates. RateCoach displays the current tax year and a "Last updated" date on every page.
Full Transparency
Our methodology page publishes every formula, rate band, and algorithm used — including the iterative binary search for rate uplift calculations. Any accountant can verify our numbers against HMRC tables.