Methodology

How DayRate calculates your rate

Every number DayRate shows is an estimate built from your inputs, the 2027 Irish tax rates below and assumptions stated on this page. Tax figures last reviewed 2026-10-24; role bands reviewed September 2026.

The calculation

Your target. You enter the take-home you want a year, your billable days, expenses and pension.
Solve for gross. DayRate finds the annual billing that leaves exactly that take-home after business expenses, the pension contribution (deducted before tax) and income tax, USC and PRSI. Income is taxed as self-employed (Class S PRSI, personal and earned income credits, USC surcharge above €100,000). The solver iterates until it is within €50 of the target.
Floor rate. That billing divided by your billable days, rounded up to €5, is your floor: it meets your target only if every planned day is billed.
Risk adjustment. The billing is multiplied by your contractor risk adjustment (and any Dublin adjustment you choose), divided by billable days and rounded up to the next €5. That is your day rate.
Everything else — take-home at the final rate, tax, hourly equivalent — is then recomputed at the rounded rate, so the figures shown are for the rate shown.

Holidays and bank holidays are priced by billable days: 260 weekdays less about 20 days’ leave and 10 bank holidays is about 230, and most contractors plan on 210–220. They are not in the risk adjustment, so they are never counted twice.

2027 tax rates

Basis: Budget 2027 (announced 6 October 2026, from 1 January 2027) and the PRSI roadmap. All figures are in one configuration file, rendered here directly from it.

2027 Irish tax rates used by DayRate
Income tax	20% / 40%
Standard rate band — single	€46,500
Standard rate band — married, one income	€55,500
Personal credit (single / married)	€2,125 / €4,250
Earned income credit (self-employed)	€2,125
Employee (PAYE) credit	€2,125
USC Up to €12,012	0.5%
USC €12,012 – €30,300	2%
USC €30,300 – €70,044	3%
USC above €70,044	8%
USC surcharge, self-employed income above €100,000	+3%
PRSI, employee and self-employed (full-year blend)	4.3875%
Class S minimum contribution	€650
Employer PRSI, higher rate (umbrella comparisons)	11.4375%
VAT registration threshold, services	€42,500

PRSI in 2027. The rate is 4.35% until 30 September and 4.5% from 2027-10-01 under the PRSI roadmap (the October step had not been confirmed on an official page when these figures were reviewed). DayRate models a full tax year, so it uses the time-weighted blend — 4.3875%, and 11.4375% for employer PRSI — rather than the October rate on every euro. A contract running entirely after 2027-10-01 pays slightly more: about €110 per €100,000 of income.

Structure. The main calculator taxes income as self-employed. A proprietary director paid through PAYE keeps the earned income credit (directors cannot claim the employee credit) and is modelled without the USC surcharge, which Revenue applies to non-PAYE income over €100,000 — confirm the treatment of your own salary with your accountant; the Ltd vs umbrella comparison models that case. Corporation tax, dividends and retained profits are not modelled.

The contractor risk adjustment

A permanent employee is paid when sick, receives an employer pension and health cover, and is not out of work between projects. A contractor funds these. The adjustment is DayRate’s stated allowance for them — an assumption, shown in full so you can defend it or change it.

Risk adjustment levels and their components
Component	Low	Medium	High
Gaps between contracts Unbilled weeks between the end of one contract and the start of the next, beyond the days already excluded from your billable year.	6%	8%	13%
Sick days you are not paid for An employee is paid when ill. You are not, and the client will not pay for the day.	2%	2%	3%
Employer benefits you now fund The employer pension match, health insurance and death-in-service cover a permanent package usually includes.	5%	5%	6%
Training and finding the next contract Certifications, courses and the unbilled time spent interviewing for your next role.	2%	3%	3%
Total adjustment	15%	18%	25%

Low: Long or rolling contract, stable client, little time between roles expected. You have a record of back-to-back contracts, a 12-month-plus engagement or a client likely to extend.
Medium: A typical 6–12 month Irish contract with a fair chance of extension. The default if you are unsure.
High: Short or fixed-end projects, a thin market for your skill, or your first contract. You expect a month or more between contracts, or the engagement is under six months.

Rule of thumb for the largest component: every 10 unbilled days in a 220-day year is about 4.5% of billing.

How role bands are estimated

Indicative ranges compiled by DayRate from publicly advertised Irish contract roles and recruiter-published material, then reviewed against each other for consistency. They are not a survey, not an average of transactions and not a valuation of any individual.

Source	DayRate editorial estimate
Reviewed	September 2026
Location	Ireland — Dublin and regional contracts blended
Contract basis	B2B day rates to a limited company or sole trader, excluding VAT
Roles covered	27

Limitations.

No statistically sampled dataset of Irish contract rates exists; these are estimates.
Ranges blend Dublin and regional work. Specialist skills, clearance or niche domain knowledge can sit above the band.
Rates quoted through an umbrella or agency PAYE arrangement are not directly comparable.
Bands are reviewed periodically, not updated live.

Where role.ie — the job board in the same group — has live day-rate listings for a role, the role page shows them as advertised rates, separately from the band. DayRate describes a rate as below, inside (lower or upper half) or above a band, never as a percentile, because no distribution has been measured. For the full table see the role benchmarks.

The negotiation position

Floor — the rate with no risk or location adjustment. Meets your take-home only if every planned day is billed.
Target — your calculated day rate.
Opening — about 8% above target rounded to €25, capped at the top of the role band when your target is inside it; the bottom of the band when your target is below it; about 5% above target when your target is already above the band.

These are reference points, not instructions. Whether to accept an offer is your decision.

Comparisons

Salary equivalent — the PAYE salary that takes home the same after tax, solved with the employee credit and Class A PRSI. It excludes the value of paid leave, sick pay and benefits.
Offer check — take-home at the offered rate on your expenses, pension and tax status, with no risk adjustment.
Ltd vs umbrella — Ltd as a proprietary director drawing all profit as salary, after expenses, pension and accountancy (default €1,800 a year). Umbrella after the provider margin (default €25 a week), with employer PRSI at 11.44% funded from the rate, taxed as Class A PAYE. Umbrella pension relief is not modelled.
Contract vs permanent — take-home cash plus pension and benefits on each side, with the assumptions listed beside the result.

Limitations

One person with no other income, reliefs or credits beyond those listed.
“Married — both working” is modelled as single; the couple’s actual split of the band may do better.
Rates exclude VAT. VAT registration is required once services turnover exceeds, or is likely to exceed, €42,500 in 12 months.
Pension contributions are capped at 15% in the calculator; age-related relief limits are higher for older contributors.
Irish tax only. Nothing here applies in any other country.

DayRate provides estimates and market information for planning and negotiation. It is not tax, legal or financial advice. For decisions about your own affairs, speak to a qualified accountant or tax adviser.

Sources

Spotted an error? Email hello@dayrate.ie — corrections are made in the single configuration file this page is rendered from.