UK vs Europe Take-Home Compare
Enter your day rate as turnover — what the client is billed — and see what you keep after the full cascade: contractor-of-record or umbrella fee, employer and employee social security, then income tax, in seven jurisdictions.
Compare take-home
UK 2026/27 · EU 2025Turnover day rate in pounds (client bill rate), ex-VAT. Foreign-currency turnover is converted at the FX rate below.
Typical contractor year: 200–230 billable days.
Assumes you are locally tax resident in each jurisdiction.
Default £0.855 per euro, an indicative rate as at late 2025 (no source recorded). Overwrite it with your contracted rate.
| Country | Gross (annual) | Income tax | Social & fees | Net (annual) | Net (monthly) | vs UK | Eff. rate |
|---|
Each destination has its own calculator with the local structures, the inbound regimes this comparison leaves out (Beckham, IFICI, 30% ruling, SARP) and the local currency.
Also useful: the UK tax residency (SRT) calculator, the double tax treaty estimator and the rest of the contracting abroad toolkit.
Where the figures come from| Jurisdiction | Key figures applied | As at | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Personal allowance £12,570, basic rate limit £37,700, higher rate from £50,270, additional rate from £125,140; employee NIC 8%/2%; employer NIC 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold; apprenticeship levy 0.5%; Class 4 NIC 6%/2% | 2026/27 tax year | HMRC published rates, allowances and thresholds for 2026/27 |
| Ireland | Standard rate band €44,000, 20%/40%, credits €2,000 personal + €2,000 PAYE or earned income; PRSI 11.15% employer, 4.1% employee/self-employed; USC 0.5/2/3/8% | 2025 calendar year | Not recorded on this page — check against Revenue before relying on it |
| Germany | Grundtarif income tax formula, solidarity surcharge 5.5%; pension 9.3%, unemployment 1.3%, health 8.55%, care 1.8% each side, ceilings €96,600 and €66,150; Freiberufler health and care ~16.3% with a ~€5,500 floor | 2025 calendar year | Tax formula: § 32a EStG 2025 Grundtarif. Contribution rates and ceilings not attributed |
| Netherlands | Box 1 35.82% / 37.48% / 49.50% at €38,441 and €76,817; general and labour tax credits; self-employed deduction €2,470; SME profit exemption 12.7%; ~17% employer wedge | 2025 calendar year | SME profit exemption 12.7%: Belastingdienst (per our Netherlands calculator). Other figures not attributed |
| France | Barème 0/11/30/41/45% at €11,497 / €29,315 / €83,823 / €180,294; portage fee 8%, employer charges ~42%, employee charges ~23%; 10% professional expense deduction capped €14,426; micro-BNC cotisations 24.6% with the 34% deemed expense abatement | 2025 calendar year | URSSAF and service-public.gouv.fr (micro-BNC cotisation rate). Portage charge rates not attributed |
| Spain | IRPF 19–47% (state scale plus average regional scale), personal minimum €5,550, employee flat deduction €2,000; employer social security 32%, employee 6.48%, contribution base ceiling €58,914; autónomo cuota €3,500–€7,080 by turnover band | 2025 calendar year | Agencia Tributaria (escala estatal + escala autonómica media); Seguridad Social, BOE Orden PJC/178/2025 and Real Decreto-ley 1/2025 |
| Portugal | IRS 12.5–48% post-reform brackets, solidarity surcharge 2.5%/5%; employer social security 23.75%, employee 11%; self-employed 21.4% on 70% of income with the 0.75 services coefficient | 2025 calendar year | Not recorded on this page — check against Autoridade Tributária and Segurança Social before relying on it |
| FX rate | £0.855 per euro (default; editable) | Late 2025 | Not recorded on this page — it is an indicative default, not a quoted rate |
How this comparison works
Your day rate is treated as turnover — what the client is billed, ex-VAT. From that figure each country deducts, in order, a contractor-of-record or umbrella fee of about 5% where one applies, employer social security, employee social security, and finally income tax. It is the same end-to-end cascade as our dedicated country calculators, so the numbers here should line up with those pages.
Local employee
Paid via an umbrella, an employer-of-record or a local entity. The model includes the margin, employer social contributions, employee social contributions and income tax on the payslip. In the UK this is an inside-IR35 umbrella model for 2026/27: employer NIC at 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold, the 0.5% apprenticeship levy, employee NIC at 8% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above, then PAYE.
Local self-employed
You register locally — Autónomo in Spain, Freiberufler in Germany, ZZP in the Netherlands, micro-BNC in France, recibos verdes in Portugal, sole trader in the UK and Ireland — and invoice directly. Social security and income tax treatment differs sharply between these regimes and drives most of the variation you see in the table. The UK sole trader pays income tax plus Class 4 NIC at 6% and 2%; compulsory Class 2 NIC was abolished on 6 April 2024, and profits at or above the £7,105 small profits threshold buy a qualifying NI year at no cost.
What is not modelled
UK PSC dividend strategies are not in this tool. For limited-company and outside-IR35 scenarios use the IR35 calculator or the limited company calculator. Note that the April 2026 dividend rise — ordinary rate 10.75% and upper rate 35.75%, both up two percentage points, with the £500 dividend allowance unchanged — narrows the gap between a UK PSC and a salaried structure, so a comparison run before April 2026 will overstate the PSC advantage.
Also outside the model: pension contributions, student loan repayments, expenses and reliefs beyond the deemed deductions listed above, church tax, regional surcharges, family and marital status, and every special inbound regime.
It depends on day rate, structure and personal situation. Among the seven jurisdictions covered here, the UK and Ireland typically lead on employee take-home; Germany and the Netherlands trail on social security; Portugal and Spain are competitive for self-employed regimes — Portugal applies its 2025 post-reform IRS brackets (12.5%–48%) with the 0.75 services coefficient for freelancers. Run your own rate through the tool rather than trusting a league table.
Both, and the split matters. The UK column is 2026/27: personal allowance £12,570, higher rate from £50,270, employee NIC 8% and 2%, employer NIC 15% above £5,000, Class 4 NIC 6% and 2%. The six European columns are 2025 calendar-year national rates, because European bands reset each January and the 2026 figures have not been verified for this tool. The "Where the figures come from" table above gives the as-at date and the source for every jurisdiction.
No. It models two common contractor positions: paid as a local employee (umbrella-equivalent or contractor-of-record) or paid as a local self-employed person. UK PSC dividend strategies are covered separately in our IR35 calculator. Remember that from April 2026 the dividend ordinary rate is 10.75% and the upper rate 35.75%, so older PSC comparisons flatter the limited company route.
Germany combines high income tax (up to 42% from around €68k) with mandatory social insurance of roughly 20.7% employee share, capped above a high threshold. Self-employed Freiberufler avoid most social charges but still pay private or voluntary public health insurance. This calculator uses the 2025 § 32a EStG Grundtarif formula plus capped social insurance — a 2025 figure set, not a 2026 one.
The tool applies the 2025 self-employed deduction (€2,470) and the 12.7% SME profit exemption (mkb-winstvrijstelling) before running profit through the Box 1 brackets. It does not model the starters deduction, the investment allowance, or the 30% ruling — the last of which can materially change the picture for inbound contractors, and is available on our Netherlands calculator.
Not modelled here. The Beckham regime (Régimen de impatriados) can cap Spanish tax at 24% on the first €600k for qualifying new arrivals for up to six years. If you qualify, your real take-home in Spain will be substantially higher than this comparison shows — switch to the Spain calculator, which carries the toggle, and speak to a Spanish tax specialist before relying on the regime.
No. These are simplified estimates ignoring regional surcharges, allowances, marital status, dependants, church tax, healthcare opt-outs and many other factors. Special inbound regimes — Beckham law, IFICI, the 30% ruling, SARP — are not applied here; each has a dedicated calculator with that toggle. Speak to an international contractor accountant before committing to a destination.
This calculator provides arithmetic estimates only and models no personal circumstances. Verify the UK side against HMRC rates and allowances, and each European jurisdiction against its own tax authority or a local accountant.