Key points at a glance
- Calculate from the top down: what you need per year, divided by the hours you can actually bill.
- Usually only 50 to 70% of your working time is billable - the rest goes to admin work, quotes, finding new clients and training.
- As a self-employed person, you pay AHV/IV/EO contributions (old-age and survivors' insurance, disability insurance, income compensation) of up to 10% and fund your retirement provision on your own - your rate has to cover this.
- If you are VAT-registered, VAT (MWST) comes on top; your hourly rate always excludes VAT.
Step 1: What do you want to earn?
Start with the income you would have as an employee for the same work - the gross salary. As an employee, though, your employer pays for a lot of things you have to cover yourself once you're self-employed: half of the AHV contributions, the pension fund (Pensionskasse), accident insurance, paid vacation and public holidays, sick days, your workplace and laptop. These are exactly the items you add in the next steps.
Step 2: Social insurance and retirement provision
- AHV/IV/EO: As a self-employed person, you pay the full contributions yourself - at most 10% of your income, on a sliding scale for lower incomes, plus the administrative costs of the compensation office (Ausgleichskasse) (AHV/IV leaflet 2.02).
- Retirement provision: Without a pension fund, you may pay up to 20% of your net earned income, at most CHF 36'288 (2026), into pillar 3a (key figures of the Federal Social Insurance Office FSIO (BSV), in German). Budget a fixed amount - otherwise it will be missing when you retire.
- Insurance: Daily sickness allowance insurance, accident insurance (voluntary for the self-employed under Art. 4 of the Accident Insurance Act (UVG), in German) and business liability insurance cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand francs a year, depending on your industry.
Step 3: Operating costs
Add up everything your business costs per year: software and subscriptions, computer and phone (spread over their useful life), an office or a share of your apartment, a vehicle or public transport, training, advertising, website, accountant (Treuhand) and bank fees. Estimate generously for anything you don't know yet - something unexpected always comes up in the first year.
Step 4: How many hours can you bill?
A year has around 260 working days. Subtract vacation (for example 5 weeks = 25 days), public holidays (about 8 to 10 days depending on the canton) and a buffer for illness (for example 5 days). That leaves around 220 working days. But you can't bill every hour of them: writing quotes, issuing invoices, recording receipts, winning customers and keeping your skills up to date - nobody pays you directly for that. 50 to 70% billable time is realistic, and probably less at first.
Step 5: Reserve and profit
A job falls through, a customer pays late, a device breaks: plan a reserve of 5 to 15%. It isn't a luxury - it's your insurance against lean months, and the profit that moves your business forward.
Worked example, step by step
Mia is a graphic designer who is going self-employed. As an employee she would earn CHF 90'000 gross per year. All figures are example values - plug in your own.
| Item | CHF per year |
|---|---|
| Target income (equivalent gross salary) | 90'000 |
| AHV/IV/EO for the self-employed (about 10%) | 9'000 |
| Retirement provision (pillar 3a) | 10'000 |
| Insurance (daily sickness allowance, accident, liability) | 4'000 |
| Operating costs (software, hardware, office, training, accountant) | 12'000 |
| Subtotal | 125'000 |
| Reserve and profit (10%) | 12'500 |
| Annual revenue target | 137'500 |
Billable hours: 220 days × 8 hours = 1'760 hours, of which 65% billable = about 1'150 hours.
Hourly rate: CHF 137'500 ÷ 1'150 hours = about CHF 120 per hour, excluding VAT. With CHF 137'500 in revenue, Mia is above the CHF 100'000 threshold - she becomes subject to VAT (Art. 10 para. 2 let. a of the Value Added Tax Act, VATA) and charges her customers CHF 120 plus 8.1% VAT, i.e. about CHF 129.70 per hour.
Cross-check: "old salary divided by hours"
If Mia had simply divided CHF 90'000 by 1'760 hours, she would end up with about CHF 51 per hour. That wouldn't cover AHV, retirement provision or costs - and she could only bill about two thirds of those 1'760 hours. Her income would end up far below what she would have earned as an employee.
Hourly rate, daily rate or flat fee?
- Hourly rate: fair when the workload is hard to estimate; the customer bears the risk if it takes longer.
- Daily rate: simpler for longer assignments, often with a slight discount compared with 8 individual hours.
- Flat fee: customers appreciate the fixed price; you bear the risk. Internally, calculate it with your hourly rate plus a margin for the unexpected.
- Subscription: For recurring services such as maintenance or support, a monthly amount provides predictable income.
When you communicate your prices, state clearly in quotes and invoices whether they include or exclude VAT, and give every quote a validity period. How to structure a quote is covered in the article From quote to paid invoice.
How it works in Easly
Once you have calculated your rate, you store it in Easly and use it everywhere:
- Services as products: Create, for example, "Graphic design" with the unit "hour", your price and the VAT rate - in quotes and invoices, you just pick the line item and enter the quantity.
- From quote to invoice: One click turns the quote into an order confirmation and later into the invoice - customer, line items and prices are carried over.
- Flat fees and subscriptions: You enter fixed amounts as a line item; for recurring services, Easly bills the subscription automatically on the billing date.
- Is your rate enough? The income statement shows revenue and expenses - including trips, office space and payroll - down to the individual receipt. After a few months, you'll see whether your numbers add up.
Easly has no time tracking: you enter the hours worked as the quantity on the invoice.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours can I bill as a self-employed person?
With around 220 working days a year, 50 to 70% of your working time is realistic - about 900 to 1'250 hours. The rest goes to admin work, finding new clients and training.
Is the hourly rate with or without VAT?
Always calculate your rate excluding VAT. If you are VAT-registered, you add VAT on the invoice and pay it over to the Federal Tax Administration FTA (ESTV). If you are not VAT-registered, you must not show any VAT on your invoices.
Why isn't my old salary divided by my hours enough?
Because as a self-employed person, you pay AHV, retirement provision, insurance, vacation and all operating costs yourself, and you can't bill every hour you work. In the example above, the correct rate is more than twice as high.
How often should I review my hourly rate?
At least once a year, when the income statement is available - and whenever your costs or your workload change significantly. Give regular customers plenty of notice before you change your prices.
Information as of: see above, 2026 figures. Sources: AHV/IV leaflet 2.02 (contributions of the self-employed), BSV key figures 2025/2026 (pillar 3a), Accident Insurance Act (Art. 4 UVG; in German), Value Added Tax Act (Art. 10 VATA). All amounts in the example are assumptions. This article is not a substitute for advice from your accountant.