FreelancerTax documentation

Hi! This page is going to explain everything FreelancerTax can do, in plain, simple words. No confusing tax talk. If you can follow a recipe, you can follow this.

FreelancerTax answers one big question: "How much of the money I just earned should I put aside for tax, so I'm not caught out later?" That's it. That's the whole app, at its heart.

Everything else — the receipts, the drives, the charts — is just there to help the app give you a good, honest answer to that one question.

Let's be super clear about this before anything else, because it matters.

What FreelancerTax IS

• A place to write down money you earned and money you spent
• A calculator that guesses how much tax you'll owe, based on what you told it
• A helper that reminds you when tax payments are due
• A tool that turns your receipts and drives into neat reports you can hand to a grown-up who does taxes for a living (an accountant)

What FreelancerTax is NOT

• It does not send anything to the tax office. You (or your accountant) still have to actually file your taxes yourself, somewhere else.
• It is not connected to your bank. Nothing gets added automatically. You type in every number yourself.
• It is not a tax expert giving you advice. It gives you a smart guess, not a promise. The app tells you this on the paywall screen and in Settings too.
• It does not replace an accountant if your situation is unusual or complicated.

Think of it like a really good calculator with a memory, not a robot accountant. It does the maths so you don't have to guess — but a real person still needs to double check anything tricky and actually submit your tax return.

The first time you open FreelancerTax, it walks you through five quick screens. You can skip any of them if you want to go faster.

1. Welcome — a short "here's what this app does" screen.
2. Pick your country — this is important! It sets your money type (currency), your tax rules, whether you measure driving distance in miles or kilometres, and your tax deadlines. Pick the country where you actually pay tax.
3. A sneak peek — a preview of what your finished tax estimate will look like.
4. Your name — just so the app can say "Good morning, [your name]" on the dashboard. That's all it's used for.
5. Then you land on your Dashboard — home base for everything.

This little walkthrough only shows up once. If you want to see it again, you'd need to delete the app and put it back on your phone.

Your free look

For the first three days after you install the app, you can explore everything for free — no payment needed, nothing charged automatically. This is sometimes called a "free trial," but really it's more like a free look: your actual tax number stays hidden (blurred out) behind a lock until you subscribe, but you can try every other part of the app during those three days.

After three days, if you haven't subscribed, the app will show you a screen asking you to subscribe to keep seeing your tax number.

Subscribing

There are two plans: paying monthly (around $10/month) or paying yearly (around $39/year, which saves you money compared to paying monthly all year). There's no free trial attached to either plan — the free look you already had at the start is instead of a trial. If you've paid before and lost access (like after getting a new phone), there's a "Restore Purchases" button right on the subscribe screen. To cancel any time, go to your phone's Settings → your Apple Account name → Subscriptions.

Imagine your mum gives you £10 for doing chores. But she says, "Remember, you owe your sister £2 from before — so really, only £8 of that is truly yours to spend."

That's exactly what FreelancerTax's main number does. When money comes in from your freelance work, not all of it is really "yours" to spend — some of it belongs to the tax office, and you just haven't handed it over yet. FreelancerTax tells you how much of every payment you should set aside (put in a jar and not touch), so that when tax time comes, you already have the money ready and it doesn't feel like a nasty surprise.

This is the single most useful number in the whole app. Everything else exists to help make this number accurate.

Here's how the app builds your number, step by step, in plain words.

Step 1: Net profit

First, the app adds up everything you told it you earned, and subtracts everything you told it you spent (including your driving costs and home office, if you use those). What's left over is called your net profit — the real amount you actually made after costs.

Formula, in words: Money you earned − Money you spent − Driving costs − Home office costs = Net profit

Step 2: The "set-aside rate" — and why it's not the same as your normal tax rate

Here's the clever (and slightly tricky) bit. If you have other income too — like a part-time job, a pension, or rental money — your freelance profit gets added on top of that. And in most countries, the more you earn in total, the higher the tax rate on your top slice of income.

So the app does something smart: it works out your tax with your freelance profit included, then works out your tax without it, and looks at the difference. That difference — the extra tax caused specifically by your freelance earnings — divided by your freelance profit, is your set-aside rate.

Here's why that matters with a simple example: imagine two people both made £5,000 freelancing this year. One of them also has a £60,000 job already. The other has no other income at all. The person with the £60,000 job will see a much higher set-aside rate on that same £5,000, because it's taxed at their higher "top slice" rate. The person with no other income sees a lower rate, because that £5,000 is closer to the bottom of the tax ladder. Both numbers are correct — they just reflect each person's real situation.

Set-aside rate vs. effective rate

The app also shows you an effective rate, which is simpler: it's just your total tax divided by your total income (freelance plus everything else). This number is almost always lower than the set-aside rate whenever you have other income, because it's an average across everything, not just the "top slice." The set-aside rate is the one to trust when deciding how much to actually put in your savings jar from each freelance payment.

Every time someone pays you for your freelance work, add it to the app. Here's how:

1. On the Dashboard, tap Log Income, or tap the + button at the top or bottom of the screen.
2. Type in the amount you were paid. This one is required — you can't skip it.
3. Pick the date you got paid. This matters because it decides which tax year the money counts towards.
4. Choose a category: Client work, Product sales, Royalties, or Other income.
5. Type in who paid you (the counterparty) — like a client's name. This isn't just for your records; the app uses it later to show you your top-paying clients.
6. Add a quick note if you want, to remind yourself what the payment was for.
7. Save it — and that's it, you're done!

The process is almost the same as adding income, just tap Log Expense instead. You'll pick a category to describe what kind of expense it was. Here are all 13 categories you can choose from:

• Software & subscriptions
• Equipment & hardware
• Home office
• Travel
• Meals
• Advertising & marketing
• Education
• Fees & commissions
• Supplies
• Contract labor
• Insurance
• Utilities & phone
• Other expense

Here's an important thing to know: these categories are just for keeping things tidy and organised for you — they don't change the maths at all. Every expense you log is subtracted in full from your profit, no matter which category you pick. In real life, some countries have special rules for certain categories (for example, only counting half of what you spent on meals) — FreelancerTax doesn't apply those special rules automatically. Your accountant will apply any special category rules when it's actually time to file, using the categories you've already sorted things into as a head start.

1. From the Dashboard, tap Scan Receipt.
2. The first time you do this, your phone will ask permission to use the camera. It only wants to use it to scan receipts and attach them to your expenses — nothing else.
3. Line up the receipt in the little frame on screen and let the app take the picture.
4. The app reads the words on the receipt (all on your phone — the photo doesn't get sent anywhere) and tries to guess the amount and who you paid it to.
5. Always double check the amount before you save it — receipt scanning is clever, but it isn't perfect, and it's your job to make sure the number is right.
6. Save, and the receipt photo stays attached to that expense so you'll always have proof.

If you drive for your freelance work — going to meet a client, picking up supplies, and so on — you can log those trips, and the app turns your driving into money you get to subtract from your profit.

1. Go to the Mileage log and tap to add a new trip.
2. Fill in the date, how far you drove, and why (the purpose).
3. Save it.

The app already knows whether to measure your trip in miles or kilometres, because it matches whichever country you picked when you set up the app. It also automatically uses the right "price per mile/km" for the date of your trip. Here's what each country uses:

• United States: miles. For 2026, the government's rate changed partway through the year — 72.5 cents per mile up to 30 June, then 76 cents per mile from 1 July onwards. (2025 was 70 cents, 2024 was 67 cents.) The app knows which rate to use based on your trip's date.
• United Kingdom: miles, at 45 pence per mile.
• Canada: kilometres, at 72 cents per km (this can change slightly each year).
• Australia: kilometres, at 91 cents per km.
• Nigeria: there's no official government rate for mileage here, so trips are kept as a record for you, but they don't reduce your tax number.

A couple of honest notes: in the UK, the government actually lowers the rate to 25p per mile once you go over 10,000 business miles in a year — the app doesn't apply that step-down yet, so if you drive a lot for work, your deduction might be a little higher than it really should be. Australia also has a yearly cap of 5,000 km that isn't applied automatically yet either. Keep this in mind, or check with an accountant if you drive a lot for work.

If you've already sent some tax money to the government this year (like a quarterly payment), tell the app about it so it doesn't ask you for that money again.

1. Go to Settings → Tax already paid.
2. Enter the amount you've paid so far.

The app subtracts this from your total tax bill to show you what's still left to pay — and this "left to pay" number is what drives your payment reminders. It's a good habit to update this every single time you make a payment, so the number the app shows you always stays true and useful.

Settings is where you fine-tune the app to match your real life. Here's what each one does, in plain words:

• Country — changes your tax rules, currency, distance unit, and deadlines. The big one.
• Tax year — which year you're looking at right now (2024, 2025, or 2026 — 2026 is picked by default).
• Filing status (US only) — are you single, married and filing together, married and filing separately, or the head of your household? This changes your tax brackets.
• Other income — any money you make outside of freelancing, like a job or a pension. This is what makes the "set-aside rate" calculation smart, as explained earlier.
• Employment wages (US and Canada only) — wages from a regular job where tax was already taken out, so the app doesn't accidentally charge you twice on the same money.
• Tax already paid — covered in the section above.
• Apply QBI deduction (US only) — a special 20% deduction some US freelancers can claim. You can turn it on or off.
• Home office size (US only) — enter your home office size in square feet, and the app applies $5 per square foot, up to a maximum of 300 square feet ($1,500 total).
• State (US only) — pick your US state out of all 50 states plus Washington DC.
• Province (Canada only) — pick your Canadian province or territory, all 13 are covered.
• Scottish rates (UK only) — turn this on if you live in Scotland, since Scotland has its own different tax bands.
• Annual rent paid (Nigeria only) — helps calculate a special rent-based tax relief.
• Custom regional rate (US and Canada) — lets you type in your own state or province tax rate if you know it's different from the app's estimate.
• Reminders — turns on notifications 5 days before each tax deadline.
• Your name — just changes your dashboard greeting.

The Taxes tab shows your number as a staircase — each step builds on the one before it, so you can see exactly how the app got to your final answer, instead of it just being a mystery number.

1. Net profit — your earnings minus your expenses, mileage, and home office.
2. Contributions — this is money that goes toward things like Social Security or National Insurance, depending on your country.
3. Adjustments — special deductions and allowances get applied here.
4. Taxable income — what's left after adjustments; this is the amount tax actually gets calculated on.
5. Income tax — shown both before and after any tax credits.
6. Regional tax — extra state or provincial tax, for the US and Canada only.
7. Total tax — everything added together.
8. Set-aside rate and effective rate — the two headline percentages explained earlier.
9. Remaining owed and your payment schedule — what's still left to pay, and when it's due.

You can always scroll through this list to see exactly why your number is what it is — nothing is hidden.

FreelancerTax supports five countries. Tap on yours below (or just read the one that matches you) to see exactly how your tax is worked out, and where your payments actually need to go.

🇺🇸 United States

The app works out your self-employment tax (this covers Social Security and Medicare) on 92.35% of your profit: 12.4% for Social Security up to a yearly limit, 2.9% for Medicare on everything, plus an extra 0.9% Medicare charge above a certain income level. It also applies the standard deduction for your filing status, an optional 20% QBI deduction, and federal tax brackets (10% up to 37%) across tax years 2024–2026.

For state tax, 23 states (like Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin) get the full, detailed bracket treatment. The rest use one flat estimated rate — this is exactly right for states with no income tax at all (like Florida and Texas) and for states with one flat rate already (like Colorado), and it's a smart, careful estimate for the remaining states, which you can always type your own rate over if you know a better one.

Payment schedule: four payments a year, each 25% of what you owe — due 15 April, 15 June, 15 September, and 15 January of the following year.

Where it goes: quarterly payments use Form 1040-ES (or you can pay directly through IRS Direct Pay). Your yearly tax return reports your business profit on Schedule C, with self-employment tax on Schedule SE.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Figures shown are for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027). You get a tax-free personal allowance of £12,570 (this shrinks if you earn over £100,000, and disappears completely at £125,140). Above that, you pay 20% tax up to £37,700, 40% up to £125,140, and 45% above that. If you live in Scotland, you can switch on Scottish rates, which use six different bands instead. On top of income tax, most people also pay Class 4 National Insurance: 6% between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above that.

Payment schedule: two payments a year (called "payments on account"), each half of your bill — due 31 January and 31 July.

Where it goes: your Self Assessment tax return (form SA100, plus the self-employment pages SA103), filed online with HMRC by 31 January.

🇨🇦 Canada

Self-employed Canadians pay both the employee and employer share of CPP (Canada Pension Plan) themselves — 11.9% on earnings above a small exempt amount up to a yearly limit, plus an extra "CPP2" charge of 8% on a higher slice of income. On top of that, federal tax brackets run from 14% up to 33%, and every one of Canada's 13 provinces and territories has its own full set of tax brackets built into the app.

Payment schedule: four payments a year, each 25% — due 15 March, 15 June, 15 September, and 15 December.

Where it goes: business income is reported on form T2125, attached to your T1 personal tax return. The return itself is due 15 June for self-employed people, though any money owed is actually due by 30 April. Instalments are paid through the CRA's "My Account" website.

🇦🇺 Australia

Figures shown are for the 2026-27 tax year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027). The first $18,200 you earn is tax-free, then 15% up to $45,000, 30% up to $135,000, 37% up to $190,000, and 45% above that. On top of that, most people pay a 2% Medicare levy, though this phases in gently for lower incomes instead of applying all at once. Superannuation (retirement savings) is optional for self-employed people in Australia, so it isn't treated as a tax here.

Payment schedule: four PAYG instalments a year, each 25% — due 28 October, 28 February, 28 April, and 28 July.

Where it goes: instalments are reported on your Business Activity Statement (BAS), and your sole trader income goes into the business section of your personal tax return, due 31 October if you lodge it yourself.

🇳🇬 Nigeria

Figures reflect the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, in effect from 1 January 2026. The first ₦800,000 of your chargeable income is tax-free, then the rate climbs in steps — 15%, 18%, 21%, 23%, and 25% for the highest earners. If you rent your home, you can also get "rent relief": 20% of your yearly rent, up to a maximum of ₦500,000, taken off your income before tax — just enter your yearly rent in Settings to use this.

Payment schedule: one single payment a year, due 31 March of the following year.

Where it goes: a self-assessment filing with your State Internal Revenue Service — most people file with their state, not with the federal tax office, for this kind of personal income tax.

1. Go to Settings → Export.
2. Choose the tax year you want a report for.
3. The app makes two files for you: one with all your income and expenses, and one with all your mileage trips.
4. Your phone's normal share screen pops up — you can email the files, save them to Files, AirDrop them, or send them anywhere else your phone can share to.

These files are in a format called CSV, which is basically a simple spreadsheet — the kind almost any accountant, or a program like Excel or Google Sheets, can open right away. This is the easiest way to hand your whole year of records over to someone who's doing your actual tax filing for you.

The Insights tab turns all your numbers into pictures, so you can spot patterns at a glance instead of reading lists of numbers.

• Money in vs. money out, by month — a chart showing what you earned and spent each month, with a line showing your running profit.
• Your top clients — ranks whoever paid you the most overall. This only works well if you fill in the "counterparty" field every time you log income, so remember to do that!
• What you spend on — a breakdown of your expenses by category, so you can see where most of your money actually goes.
• Year by year — compares your income, expenses, profit, and tax rate across every year you've used the app, side by side.

Turn on reminders in Settings, and the app will ask permission to send you notifications. Once that's on, it will gently remind you 5 days before each tax payment deadline for your country — that's four reminders a year for the US, Canada, and Australia, two for the UK, and one for Nigeria.

If you turn reminders off, all the scheduled ones get cancelled right away. If you turn them back on, only future deadlines get new reminders — it won't remind you about a date that's already passed.

One honest note: sometimes an official deadline lands on a weekend or public holiday, and the real due date quietly moves to the next working day. The app shows you the standard date as published by the tax office, but doesn't automatically shift it for weekends and holidays — so it's always worth double-checking the exact date close to when a payment is due.

You can put your current set-aside number right on your phone's home screen, so you can check it without even opening the app!

1. Press and hold anywhere on your home screen until the icons start to wiggle.
2. Tap the + button, usually in a corner of the screen.
3. Search for FreelancerTax and pick the widget.
4. Add it to your home screen — done!

The widget updates automatically whenever your numbers change in the app.

Here's the simple version of how your information is looked after:

• Everything you type into the app is stored right there on your own phone.
• If you're signed in to iCloud, your data syncs automatically and privately between your own devices — Apple's iCloud, not us, handles that, and it's only ever visible to you.
• There is no connection to your bank, no hidden trackers, and no advertising companies watching what you do.
• When you scan a receipt, the picture is read right there on your phone — it isn't sent off to some server somewhere.
• You can export everything, or delete everything, whenever you like, right from Settings.

For the full, detailed privacy policy, visit waldroid.com/privacy — the FreelancerTax section there covers this in more depth.

We think it's only fair to be really upfront about what the app doesn't cover yet, so you're never caught by surprise. None of these are mistakes — they're just areas where the app keeps things simple on purpose, and where a real accountant still adds real value.

• It never files anything for you. It only gives you an estimate and the reports to back it up.
• Expense categories are just labels — they don't apply special rules (like a country only allowing half of your meal costs).
• Only the US and Canada get detailed state/province tax. The UK, Australia, and Nigeria are calculated at the whole-country level only.
• 27 US states use one flat estimated rate instead of their full bracket system — this is exact for no-tax and flat-tax states, and a solid estimate for the rest.
• Older tax years use today's rules as a stand-in where an exact historical rule isn't built in yet.
• Some mileage caps aren't applied — like the UK's lower rate after 10,000 miles, or Australia's yearly 5,000 km limit.
• Retirement savings, health insurance costs, and most tax credits aren't included in the estimate.
• Weekend and holiday deadline shifts aren't calculated — always double check the real date closer to the time.
• The set-aside rate is a "top slice" rate, so it will look bigger than your effective rate whenever you have other income — and that's completely correct, not a bug!

If something in the app doesn't make sense, or you think a number looks wrong, we're always happy to help. Email us at contact@waldroid.com and we'll get back to you.

And remember — for anything unusual, or before you actually file your taxes, it's always worth having a real accountant or your country's tax office take a look too. FreelancerTax is here to make the everyday tracking easy and to stop tax time from feeling scary — think of it as a really helpful assistant, not the final word.