About this tool
The Freelance Rate Calculator helps independent workers in Cambodia turn a target monthly take-home amount into concrete hourly, daily, weekly and monthly billing rates. You enter the income you want to keep each month, how many days you plan to work, how many billable hours fit into a working day, your recurring business expenses, and a tax buffer — the calculator shows the minimum you would need to invoice in each period. It works in US dollars or Khmer riel and runs entirely in your browser; no account, sign-up or data submission is involved. It is a planning tool, not an accounting or payroll system: it does not file taxes, calculate Tax on Salary for you, convert currency with a live rate, or tell you what the market charges for a given skill. Use it to set a starting point for quotes and negotiations, then adjust as you learn what clients actually pay in your field in Cambodia. If you invoice in dollars but live in riel, check the current rate on the exchange rates page (https://inkhmer.com/tools/finance/exchange-rates) or convert with the currency converter (https://inkhmer.com/tools/finance/currency-converter), and compare your take-home against the payroll calculator (https://inkhmer.com/tools/finance/payroll-calculator) if you are weighing salaried work.
How it works
The calculation is performed client-side in the browser the moment your target income is entered. Monthly revenue is computed as (target income + monthly expenses) × (1 + tax buffer / 100). From that, the weekly rate is monthly revenue divided by working days per month × 5, the daily rate is monthly revenue divided by working days, and the hourly rate is the daily rate divided by billable hours per day. Working days can be set between 10 and 26 with a default of 22, billable hours between 1 and 10 with a default of 6, and the tax buffer is chosen on a slider from 0% to 40% with a default of 10%. Expenses cannot be negative, and the target income must be greater than zero. Results are formatted with the selected currency — riel values are shown as whole numbers, dollar values with two decimals. Nothing is sent to a server, so there is no refresh cadence and no failure state; the tool simply shows an empty-state message until a valid target income is entered.
Use cases
- A freelance designer in Phnom Penh setting an hourly rate before quoting a three-week website project
- A part-time content writer in Siem Reap checking whether their planned monthly income covers their laptop and internet costs
- A developer moving from a salaried job to freelancing estimating how many billable hours they must sell each month
- A translator comparing daily rates across clients to see which mix of work meets their target income
- A freelancer in Battambang planning a month with fewer working days and checking what rate that forces
- A consultant preparing a proposal who needs a defensible daily rate based on their own costs and targets
Frequently asked questions
Does the calculator include Tax on Salary (TOS)?
It does not compute tax for you. The tool provides a tax buffer percentage you set yourself — the tooltip notes that freelancers earning above 1,500,000 KHR per month should account for Tax on Salary, and the buffer is the way to fold that into the rate. The bracket calculation itself is done by payroll software or a tax advisor, and the official rates are published by the General Department of Taxation.
Is this tool official or does it use live market rates?
No. It is an unofficial planning calculator and it uses no market rate data at all — there is no database of what freelancers charge in Cambodia, and no live exchange rate. The numbers you get are derived purely from your own inputs and the formula above. Real rates depend on your skill, portfolio and negotiation.
Why does the weekly rate use a 5-day week?
The weekly figure is derived by dividing the monthly revenue by working days per month and multiplying by 5, which assumes a Monday-to-Friday pattern. If you work six days a week, treat the daily rate as the more reliable planning number and multiply it by the days you actually work.
What should I set for billable hours per day?
The default is 6 billable hours out of a typical 8-hour working day, because the rest goes to admin, client emails and business development. The slider allows 1 to 10 hours. If you consistently invoice more than you planned, your rate may be too low; if you invoice less, the rate may be too high for the market.
How do I handle expenses in the calculation?
Monthly business expenses are added to your target income before the tax buffer is applied, so the resulting rates cover both your take-home target and your costs. Typical entries are internet, software subscriptions, co-working space, phone and equipment. Keeping this list honest is what makes the daily rate a real break-even number.
What happens if I enter nothing or an invalid value?
The tool waits until a valid, positive target income is entered and shows a hint asking for it. Negative expenses are rejected with a field error and the tax buffer must stay within its allowed range. Because the calculation runs locally, there is no loading or failure state to worry about.
Data and accuracy
No external data source: the calculation runs in the browser on the user’s own inputs. The only legal reference in the tool is the note that freelancers earning above 1,500,000 KHR per month should account for Tax on Salary; the current TOS brackets are published by the General Department of Taxation at tax.gov.kh.
Sources
- General Department of Taxation — official website — General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Economy and Finance
Content last reviewed 13 October 2026