How to pay yourself a salary as a freelancer (without spending the tax money)
When you’re an employee, a fixed number lands in your account on payday. You know exactly what you have to work with, and everything else (taxes, social security) has already been taken out without you having to think about it. When you go freelance, that fixed number disappears. A client pays you 1,200 and, if you’re not careful, that 1,200 “feels like yours” the same day it lands in your account. It isn’t. Part of it has to go back out in taxes, another part covers business costs, and only what’s left after that is, genuinely, your salary.