Employed or freelance: what hourly rate do you need?
Your current salary converted into the hourly rate that nets you the same. Including the things your employer pays now and you will pay yourself: pension, disability insurance and the weeks you do not invoice.
Assumption: 46 billable weeks per year. Holidays, illness and sales are already deducted.
Hourly rate for the same net income
€45/hr
About €362 per 8 hour day, at 1472 billable hours per year.
Where you are now
Gross salary per year€51,840
Net per month as an employee€3,339
How this was calculated
| Net per year you want to match | €40,071 |
| Income tax and Zvw as a freelancer | +€14,087 |
| Pension contribution | +€6,018 |
| Required profit | €60,176 |
| Business costs | +€4,000 |
| Disability insurance | +€2,400 |
| Required revenue per year | €66,576 |
As a freelancer you benefit from the self-employed deduction and the SME profit exemption, so you pay less tax on the same euro than an employee. In exchange you pay for pension, insurance, holidays and illness yourself. This rate is your floor, not your asking price.
The net salary shown is an indication: your own pension contribution, benefits and employer schemes are left out, and an employee does not pay the Zvw contribution themselves. Based on the 2026 figures. No rights can be derived from it; this is not tax advice.
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