How much tax will I pay as a self-employed tradesperson in Scotland?

For 2026-27, a self-employed tradesperson in Scotland with £30,000 profit pays £4,496.87 in Income Tax and National Insurance. On £45,000 it is £8,827.85, and on £60,000 it is £15,638.65.

Those figures assume you are a Scottish taxpayer, have no other income and get the full £12,570 personal allowance. Scotland sets its own Income Tax bands for earnings and profits, while National Insurance is the same across the UK. The rates below are for the 2026-27 tax year, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, as listed on GOV.UK on 19 October 2026.

Who counts as a Scottish taxpayer

It depends on where you live, not where you work. GOV.UK says you pay Scottish Income Tax if you live in Scotland. If you have a home in Scotland and another elsewhere in the UK, it depends which is your main home, usually where you live and spend most of your time.

So a joiner who lives in Carlisle and works on sites in Dumfries pays the England rates. A plumber who lives in Edinburgh and takes a job in Newcastle for a month still pays the Scottish rates. If you move to or from Scotland, you pay Scottish Income Tax for a tax year if you lived in Scotland for longer than anywhere else in the UK during it.

The rates that apply

You pay two things on your profit: Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance.

• Class 4 National Insurance: 6% on profit between £12,570 and £50,270, and 2% above £50,270. This is the same in every part of the UK.
• Class 2 National Insurance: treated as paid if profit is £7,105 or more, so it costs you nothing.

Worked examples for 2026-27

At £30,000, a Scottish taxpayer pays £34.93 less than someone in the rest of the UK, because of the 19% starter rate. By £45,000 it is £396.05 more, and by £60,000 it is £1,750.05 more. These are examples only. Your own figures will differ.

The 48% stretch to watch

Between £43,663 and £50,270 of profit, you pay 42% Income Tax and still pay 6% Class 4 National Insurance. That makes 48p in every extra pound. Above £50,270 the National Insurance drops to 2%, so the combined rate falls to 44%.

This is where genuine business costs are worth the most. Each extra £100 of allowable cost you claim saves £27 if your profit is between £29,527 and £43,662, £48 between £43,663 and £50,270, and £44 between £50,271 and £75,000. Our guide to expenses for tradespeople lists what you can and cannot claim.

If you work under CIS

The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) works the same in Scotland. Contractors take 20% of your labour if you are registered, or 30% if not. Those deductions are advance payments towards the figures above, not an extra tax. Because the Scottish bill differs from the rest of the UK, the same deductions can leave a different refund or balance. On £30,000 profit, for example, your bill is £34.93 lower, so any refund is £34.93 bigger, or any balance you still owe is £34.93 smaller.

What this means for you

For the 2026-27 tax year, your bill is due by 31 January 2028. If it is your first year where what you still owe, after any CIS deductions, is £1,000 or more, you usually also make your first payment on account towards 2027-28 that day: half of what you still owe. With no CIS deductions, on £30,000 profit that is £4,496.87 plus £2,248.43, about £6,745 due on 31 January 2028. There is no payment on account if more than 80% of your tax was already paid, for example through CIS deductions. Our guide to payments on account explains it.

Your Self Assessment return has a box to say you pay Scottish Income Tax. If you move to or from Scotland, tell HMRC your new address.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax applies in Scotland in the same way as the rest of the UK. If your qualifying income, which is your takings before costs from all self-employment plus any rent before costs, was over £30,000 in 2025-26, MTD starts for you on 6 April 2027. If it was over £50,000 in 2024-25, it already started on 6 April 2026. MTD does not change your tax rates. It changes how you keep records and report them.

Steps to estimate your own bill

1. Add up what customers paid you in the tax year, before CIS deductions.
2. Take off your allowable business costs to get your profit.
3. Work out the Income Tax band by band from the table above, starting at £12,571.
4. Add Class 4: 6% of your profit between £12,570 and £50,270, plus 2% of anything above.
5. Take off any CIS deductions to see what you still owe, or what is due back.
6. If this is your first year and you still owe £1,000 or more after CIS deductions, add half of what you still owe for your first payment on account. Skip this step if more than 80% of your tax was already taken through CIS.

Above £100,000 of profit your personal allowance starts to shrink, so these steps understate the bill there. Our self-employed tax calculator does the sums for you: tick "I live in Scotland" for the Scottish rates. The free MTD check shows when MTD starts for you, and the trades section has more on CIS and tax for trades.