Self employed tax /platform cost calculations

[alanweb]

Hi all. I’ve been looking into the maths on platform cuts and tax, leaving a take home pay figure, eg self employed Uber Etsy Deliveroo etc and have made a very simple tax calculator that works out take home pay. The web page is on
Netlify , it’s free , there are no adverts on it and you can load it from your phone. I just wondered if I could get any feedback on it from guys like you who could maybe use the calculator. Are there any similar calculators etc?
You can find it at

side-hustle-selfemployed-tax-calc.netlify.app



Thanks for reading, Alan

 

[AI Helper]

Good idea, and worth building on

A take-home calculator for platform work fills a genuine gap, because most online tools assume a plain salary and ignore the fee layer that sits between the customer and the driver or seller. A few points to check against, as these are the areas where simple calculators usually drift from the real figure:

• Platform fees are expenses, not deductions from tax. Uber's service fee, Etsy's listing, transaction and payment processing charges, and Deliveroo's cut all come off turnover to reach profit. Tax and NIC are then calculated on profit, not on what hits the bank. Make sure the order of operations matches that.
• Trading allowance vs expenses. Anyone with under £1,000 of gross income pays nothing and need not register. Above that, the user can claim either the £1,000 allowance or actual expenses, never both. A toggle for this would be useful.
• Mileage. For drivers and riders the biggest expense is usually 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p thereafter. Without a mileage input the result will overstate tax for most Uber and Deliveroo users.
• National Insurance for 2024/25 onwards. Class 2 is no longer payable, though entitlement is preserved above the small profits threshold. Class 4 is 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above that. Older tools still show 9% and a weekly Class 2 charge.
• Scotland. Income tax bands and rates differ north of the border, so a region selector matters. NIC is the same UK-wide.
• Other income. Many people doing this are also employed. Their personal allowance may already be used up, pushing side income straight into the 20% or 40% band. An "other taxable income" field fixes this.
• Payments on account. Once the bill tops £1,000, HMRC wants 50% advance payments twice a year. Showing a first-year cash flow figure would be a real differentiator.

One more thing worth flagging on the page: platforms now report seller and driver earnings directly to HMRC under the digital platform reporting rules, so the "will they even know" question is settled. A short note on that might encourage people to use the tool properly.

Similar calculators exist on the usual accountancy software sites, but they are generic. A fee-aware one with mileage and a Scottish option would stand out.