Sole trader earnings benchmarks: what the new data means

If you have ever wondered whether what you earn is normal for the work you do, there is now an Australian figure to hold yours against. Hnry, a tax and payments service for self-employed people, has released its inaugural Sole Trader Earnings Report, and Flying Solo wrote up the findings. It benchmarks average taxable income across 116 types of solo work, using anonymised data from tens of thousands of the platform’s Australian customers. One detail matters more than any of the headline numbers: the figure being compared is taxable income, meaning profit after business expenses, not the money that landed in the account. That makes it something you can act on rather than something to feel bad about.

General information, not tax advice. The ATO is the authority - see ato.gov.au or ask a registered tax or BAS agent.

What the figures say

Grouped by type of work, the report puts contractors highest at an average of $111,400 a year, followed by tradies at $78,800, health and wellness sole traders at $70,100 and freelancers at $62,000. Retail sole traders averaged $43,700 and gig workers $36,000.

At occupation level the spread is wider. IT software consultants recorded the highest average taxable income at $175,000, with project managers at $160,000 and doctors and general practitioners at $155,000. Among trades, electricians and carpet and tile installers each recorded $110,000, earthmoving and excavation services $105,000, and plumbers $100,000.

Profit is what is being measured, not your rate

A tradie charging an hourly rate well under a consultant’s can still land on the same taxable income, because the tradie carries a vehicle, tools, insurance and materials while the consultant carries a laptop. A figure below one of these averages is not automatically a pricing problem, and one above is not automatically a win. What the report compares is what was left after the cost of doing the work.

That cuts both ways. If expenses are not being captured properly, taxable income looks higher than the business really performed, and the tax bill follows the overstatement. Receipts that never make it into the records are the usual cause.

Work out your own comparable number

Take your last tax return and find net income from the business, after expenses. That is the figure sitting on the same footing as the averages above. If the year is only part done, add up income received so far, subtract business expenses so far, and scale it across twelve months, knowing the result is rough.

Two things make that sum unreliable, and both are fixable. Expenses with no receipt attached tend to be left out altogether. And invoices that were sent but never chased get counted as income when the money has not actually arrived.

Divide by the hours you actually worked

An annual figure hides the thing that usually explains a gap. Two people can record the same taxable income while one works thirty hours a week and the other works sixty. Divide your net figure by the hours you genuinely put in, including quoting, invoicing, travel and admin, and you get an effective hourly rate. That number is often a surprise, and it is the one worth watching.

Most sole traders could not produce their real hours from memory, which is where this comparison usually stalls. A fortnight of honest recording is normally enough to see the shape of it.

Where the gap usually comes from

Before changing a rate, it may be worth checking the cheaper explanations first. Unbilled work is the common one: revisions, callbacks, site visits, and the hours spent preparing quotes that never convert. Scope that grew while the price stayed still is another. So is a rate set two or three years ago and carried forward since, while fuel, insurance and materials did not stay where they were.

Then there is money already earned but not collected. An invoice left unpaid for three months does not look like a pricing problem, but it lands in the same year’s figure.

Read the benchmark as a question

These averages come from the customers of one platform rather than from every sole trader in the country, so they describe that group, not the whole population. Averages also hide the spread, and a small number of high earners can lift one. Treating a figure as a target to hit is how people talk themselves into pricing that does not suit their market or their costs. Treating it as a prompt to check your own numbers is where the value sits.

Apsis can supply the two inputs this comparison needs. Timesheets cover entry, an overview and reports, so the hours behind a year of income are recorded rather than guessed at, which is what turns an annual figure into an effective hourly rate. An expense can carry a photo of the receipt, so the costs that reduce taxable income are captured when they happen instead of reconstructed months later. The invoice list filters by status and flags overdue rows, which separates what you have earned from what has actually arrived. If a review does lead you to change what you charge, the default line-item rate pre-fills your quotes and invoices, so it is one setting to update rather than a number to remember on every job. On the paid plan, the tax module adds a GST and BAS view with an income tax estimate.