What you need
Rent or mortgage, groceries, insurance — everything at home.
Software, insurance, workspace, bookkeeper.
The hours that end up on a client invoice.
Sales, quotes, admin, marketing, learning.
Subtract holidays, illness and quiet stretches.
1,104 billable of 1,656 hours worked per year.
An employee keeps being paid through 25 holiday days and 8 sick days: 12.7% of the year. You are not. 15% covers that plus quiet stretches.
Minimum hourly rate
To keep €2,500 per month personally, you need to charge at least €43/hr per billed hour.
You meet the 1,225-hour urencriterium, so the zelfstandigenaftrek is included.
Indicative — not tax advice. This is a floor, not a verdict on what you are worth: it is the rate at which you break even, not the rate your market pays. Charge less and you are eating into reserves. The tax here is not estimated but computed with the 2026 rates and the same calculation core as the Peil app — including zelfstandigenaftrek, MKB-winstvrijstelling, tax credits and ZVW. VAT is not part of it: you charge that on top and remit it quarterly.
How this is calculated
This tool runs backwards. You say what you need; it finds the revenue at which that actually remains after tax, and divides it by your billable hours.
The order is the same as in the Peil app:
- Your living costs — what you need each month to get by at home.
- Plus your buffer. An employee keeps being paid through 25 holiday days and an average of 8 sick days: 12.7% of the working year. Nobody pays you through those. Skip the reserve and it is not a buffer you are missing — it is pay you are deferring.
- Plus AOV and pension. Deductible and a real outflow: they lower your tax and they leave your account.
- Plus tax. Not estimated with a percentage but computed: zelfstandigenaftrek, startersaftrek, MKB-winstvrijstelling, brackets, tax credits and ZVW — with the 2026 rates.
- Plus business costs. Together, that is the revenue you need.
- Divided by billable hours — not hours worked. The time you spend on sales, admin and quotes is not invoiced, but it still has to be paid for out of the hours that are.
Why a percentage doesn't work here
Your tax depends on your profit, your profit on your revenue, and your revenue on the rate you are trying to calculate. No fixed percentage breaks that loop. Most spreadsheets therefore ask you to fill in your annual tax bill — the hardest number in the whole calculation, and the one people most often get wrong.
We search for it instead: the tool tries revenue figures until exactly what you need remains after tax. That is also why needing twice as much demands more than twice the rate — your second tranche is taxed harder than your first.
A floor is a starting point, not a destination.
This rate holds for the hours and costs you entered above. Both move all year. Peil tracks your actual hours and invoices, and shows whether you are still above your floor — or have slipped below it without noticing.
Get started free →Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate your minimum hourly rate as a Dutch freelancer?
You work backwards from what you need. Start with your personal living costs per month, add a buffer for holidays, illness and quiet stretches, and add your AOV and pension premiums. That is what must remain after tax. On top of that comes the tax itself and your business costs — together, the revenue you need. Divide that by your billable hours, not your worked hours. What comes out is your floor.
Why can't you calculate a minimum rate with a fixed tax percentage?
Because it is circular: your tax depends on your profit, your profit on your revenue, and your revenue on the rate you are trying to find. Most spreadsheets break that loop by asking you to type in your annual tax bill — the single hardest number in the calculation. On top of that, Dutch freelance tax is not linear: the zelfstandigenaftrek, MKB-winstvrijstelling, the taper on tax credits and the ZVW contribution together mean that needing twice as much requires more than twice the rate. This tool computes the tax rather than estimating it.
Do AOV and pension premiums count as costs or as savings?
Both, and the difference is worth money. AOV and pension via lijfrente are personal deductions that lower your taxable income, while also genuinely leaving your account. A buffer or saving for a house deposit only does the second. Putting them in one "savings" field — as many calculators do — gets your tax wrong, and wrong in your disfavour. That is why this tool asks for them separately.
What happens to my minimum rate if I miss the urencriterium?
It goes up. The 1,225-hour urencriterium counts every hour in your business, billable and non-billable alike. Miss it and you lose the zelfstandigenaftrek, your tax rises, and you need to charge more for the same net result. This tool uses your real hours, so that effect shows up in the rate instead of being silently assumed away.
Is my minimum rate the rate I should be charging?
No. This is a floor, not a verdict on what you are worth. It says: below this you are eating into reserves. What your market pays is a separate question that depends on your specialism, your positioning and how much competing supply there is. Use this as the line you do not drop below — and your net effective hourly rate to check what a specific offer actually leaves you.
Does this rate include VAT?
No, the calculated rate is excluding VAT. You charge VAT on top of your rate and remit it quarterly to the Belastingdienst; it is money in transit that was never yours. The tax in this calculation is your income tax, national insurance contributions and the ZVW contribution on your profit.