- Original Poster
- #1
Hey,
I'm just trying to work out the benefit of setting up a company vs. continuing to bill clients as a self employed person. Aside from the take home tax, reregistering a company would help me build trust with some of the bigger companies I work with, but also obviously comes with some administrative hassle (I have no interest in hiring people in the immediate future).
I've tried to create a comparison table to work out my take home in the 2026-27 financial year using the two scenarios (the calculators I found online made it difficult to make a comparison). I don't need the numbers to be perfect, but based on this it feels like it makes sense to register a company over £60k income after expenses.
Do these numbers look right to you? Is there anything big I'm missing?
The income and expenses are based on an average of the last six months.
Also, if I'm taking a £12,570 monthly salary (aka my income tax allowance), should I volunteer to pay NI as an individual?
It's been tough to get my head around this, even with some experience running a payroll so please let me know if the way I'm thinking about this is wrong.
Thanks!
Chris
I'm just trying to work out the benefit of setting up a company vs. continuing to bill clients as a self employed person. Aside from the take home tax, reregistering a company would help me build trust with some of the bigger companies I work with, but also obviously comes with some administrative hassle (I have no interest in hiring people in the immediate future).
I've tried to create a comparison table to work out my take home in the 2026-27 financial year using the two scenarios (the calculators I found online made it difficult to make a comparison). I don't need the numbers to be perfect, but based on this it feels like it makes sense to register a company over £60k income after expenses.
Do these numbers look right to you? Is there anything big I'm missing?
| Self-employed | Company | Notes | |
| Income | £84,000 | £84,000 | |
| Expenses | -£10,800 | -£10,800 | |
| Salary | - | -£12,570 | |
| Employers NI | - | -£1,136 | Based on a salary calculator |
| Pension | - | - | Not included for simplicity |
| Admin expenses | £0 | -£600 | Xero and an accountant for year-end |
| Corporation tax | - | -£11,190 | |
| Post-tax profit | £73,200 | £47,704 | |
| Income tax | -£16,712 | £0 | |
| National insurance | -£2,721 | £0 | |
| Dividend tax | - | -£3,777 | |
| Net take home | £53,767 | £64,051 |
The income and expenses are based on an average of the last six months.
Also, if I'm taking a £12,570 monthly salary (aka my income tax allowance), should I volunteer to pay NI as an individual?
It's been tough to get my head around this, even with some experience running a payroll so please let me know if the way I'm thinking about this is wrong.
Thanks!
Chris
