What to compare between PJ and CLT
Comparing the salary with the invoice amount is misleading. A CLT job includes a 13th salary, vacation with an extra third, 8% FGTS and benefits. As a PJ you pay your own taxes and fund all of that yourself.
So the calculator turns the CLT job into an equivalent monthly amount and finds how much the PJ has to invoice to keep the same amount after taxes and accounting.
How the CLT package is calculated
From the gross salary come the INSS (progressive, 7.5% to 14%, up to the R$8,475.55 ceiling) and 2026 income tax: people earning up to R$ 5,000 a month are exempt, and up to R$ 7,350 a discount fades out gradually (Law 15.270/2025).
It then adds the 13th pay and vacation third (already net, divided by 12), the 8% FGTS and any benefits you enter.
MEI, Simples Nacional or Lucro Presumido
MEI pays a fixed R$ 86.05 a month for services, but revenue is capped at R$ 81,000 a year (R$ 6,750 a month) and not every profession can use it.
Under Simples Nacional, a single payment (the DAS) covers the taxes. For services, Annex III starts at 6% of revenue and Annex V at 15.5%. To qualify for Annex III, payroll (including the partner’s pro-labore) must be at least 28% of revenue, known as Fator R. The calculator compares that strategy with the minimum pro-labore and uses the better one.
Under Lucro Presumido, federal taxes add up to about 11.33% of revenue, plus the city service tax (usually 2% to 5%). It usually only pays off at high revenue.
In any regime, profit distributed to the partner is exempt from income tax up to R$ 50,000 a month; above that, since 2026, 10% is withheld on the total.
What a PJ gives up
A CLT job carries protections that are not in the math: the 40% FGTS penalty on dismissal without cause, unemployment insurance and job stability in some cases. Put a value on them in your decision.
Hiring a PJ for a role with fixed hours, subordination and exclusivity can be recognized as an employment relationship by the labor courts. If in doubt, talk to a labor lawyer.
What a CLT employee costs the company
With 13th pay and vacation provisioned, 8% FGTS and, outside Simples, employer social security (20%), RAT and third parties (about 5.8%), a R$ 5,000 salary costs around R$8,110.28 a month, 62% more, before benefits. That is why a PJ offer close to that cost often works for both sides.