About Quidpad
Free, fast, honest UK money tools for the self-employed — built to answer one question at a time, without a signup wall.
What Quidpad is
Quidpad is a small, independent hub of free money tools for UK freelancers, contractors and small-business owners. It exists to answer the everyday questions the self-employed actually ask — "how much VAT is that?", "what's my real take-home inside versus outside IR35?", "salary or dividends?", "send this client a clean invoice" — in under a minute, with no account and no jargon.
Every calculator runs entirely in your browser using published HMRC rates, and the invoice generator builds your PDF client-side. There is no login, no paywall and no data stored on a server. That is a deliberate design choice, not a limitation: the tools are meant to be the thing you reach for first, use, and close.
Why it exists
The official gov.uk tools are trustworthy but austere, and they tend to tell you your status rather than what you'll actually keep. The commercial contractor portals are deep but built as lead funnels, with signup nudges layered over the numbers. The single-tool calculator sites are scattered one-per-domain. Quidpad's goal is the friendly middle: correct, current figures and a working document, bundled in one place, with the working shown and a link out to gov.uk for the authoritative rules.
How we keep it accurate
UK tax rates and thresholds change — most significantly at the start of each tax year in April, and sometimes at a Budget or fiscal event. Keeping the tools correct through those changes is the core maintenance commitment behind this site:
- Rates live in one place. Every calculator reads from a single, versioned rates configuration rather than hard-coding numbers, so an update flows through the whole site at once.
- Annual April review. At each new tax year we refresh the rate tables, re-check thresholds (VAT registration, National Insurance, dividend allowances, mileage AMAP) and re-label the tools for the current year.
- Budget and in-year patches. Where a fiscal event changes a rate mid-year, we patch the affected tools and note what changed.
- Sources on every page. Each tool shows the rate it used and links to the relevant gov.uk page, so you can verify the figure yourself.
Information, not advice
Quidpad gives estimates and illustrations for information only. It is not tax, accounting or financial advice, and using it does not create a professional relationship. The figures are based on published HMRC rates and standard assumptions, but your own circumstances — reliefs, allowances, other income, the specifics of a contract — can change the answer. For a decision that matters, check the current position on gov.uk or speak to a qualified accountant. Our full disclaimer sets this out in more detail.
How the site is funded
Quidpad is free to use and pays for itself honestly: through relevant display advertising and, on some pages, affiliate links to accounting software or business banking we think genuinely fits the task at hand. If you sign up to a partner through one of those links we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Ads and affiliate links never gate a tool — you always get your answer first. See our privacy policy for exactly what that involves.
Get in touch
Spotted a figure that looks wrong, or a rate that needs updating? That kind of feedback is genuinely useful and helps keep the tools accurate — please contact us.