How to Pay Yourself as a Business Owner

Confused on how much to pay yourself as a Sole Proprietor or Single Member LLC?? Once you have your net income for the month, simply plug it into this easy to use calculator! 

Ready to Pay Myself!

It can get confusing on how much to pay yourself, especially when your income can quickly fluctuate from month to month! 

The first step to know how to pay yourself, is to know how your business is structured. 

How your business is structured is going to tell you how you need to be paying yourself. These are the three most common structures your business is going to have and how you should be paying yourself. 

  1. Sole Proprietorship (Sole Prop)

    This means when you are filing your taxes you are using your SSN when filling out your Schedule C and have not set up an LLC (p.s. there is nothing wrong with this - and yes, you are still legit without an LLC.)

  2. Single Member LLC

    This means you have gone through the process of setting up your LLC, and when you file your taxes you will be using your business EIN (aka your business’s SSN) when filling out your Schedule C.

  3. LLC taxed as an Scorp 

    If you are structured as a Scorp - you need to be paying yourself a reasonable wage via a payroll processor such as Gusto. AKA you are a W2 employee. If you have elected to be an Scorp and are NOT on payroll - you need to reach out to someone to help you get this set up ASAP (you can send me an email & I will get you connected with someone who can help). 

    Note: this calculator is to be used if you are a Sole Prop or Single Member LLC.

    If you are structured as a Sole Prop or Single Member LLC you are going to be paying yourself via bank transfers from your business to your personal account, this is called Owner’s Draw or Owner’s Pay

    Yes - it really is that easy! The key here is going to be making sure you are taking into account what you may need to pay for taxes at the end of the year. Keep reading to see how you can calculate this! 

A good starting point for paying yourself is to take your Net Income (sales - expenses) and: 

  • pay yourself 50-70%

  • Save for taxes 20-30%

  • Pay self/pay off additional debt remaining amount

Easily plug these numbers into the owner pay calculator!

NOTE: These numbers are just suggestions!! It can vary from business to business and state to state. But it is a great starting point. Calculating your pay this way is for Single Member LLCs and Sole Proprietors (paying themselves via bank transfer)

Ready to pay yourself and set aside money for taxes?! Get instant access to the calculator after purchase!

Common questions (and answers) about the Google Sheet Templates

  • Once you purchase the calculator you will get instant access to it via thrivecart where you will get instructions to make a copy of it into your own google drive

  • Each year you can create a new bookkeeping folder (aka Bookkeeping 2025, etc) and make a copy of the calculator. Clear out the old info from the copy and boom - you are ready to stay organized for another year!

  • The owner pay calculator is for small business owners that are elected as a single member LLC or sole proprietor and you are paying yourself via bank transfers. (psst.. if you are elected to be taxed as an Scorp - you should be on a payroll software such as gusto. You can use this link HERE to get $100 after you run your first payroll with Gusto!)