Feb 25, 2026 · 7 min read
Freelance Pricing with Taxes and Expenses
Set rates from take-home goals instead of market guesswork.
Start from target take-home
Working backward from your monthly target is more reliable than copying competitor rates.
Billable hours are always lower than expected
Admin work, revisions, and prospecting reduce true billable capacity.
Protect margin with periodic recalibration
Revisit assumptions every quarter to keep up with inflation and workload mix changes.