The Session Rate Calculator for Private Practice Dietitians

As a self-employed dietitian, you pay two kinds of tax on your profit:

1. Self-employment tax (15.3%). This covers Social Security and Medicare. The calculator already includes it, so you don't need to enter it.
2. Income tax. Your federal rate depends on how much you earn, and many states add their own. Enter your combined federal and state rate below.

Not sure what your income tax rate is? Pull out last year's tax returns. Add your federal income tax and your state income tax, then divide by your total income. Leave out self-employment tax, since the calculator already includes it. You can also look up the current federal brackets at irs.gov/filing/federal-income-tax-rates-and-brackets.

The calculator applies the full 15.3% to all of your profit, so your actual tax bill will likely come in a little lower. That's on purpose: it's better for your rate to leave you a cushion than to come up short. If your income has changed a lot since last year, your accountant can give you a closer number.

Private practice income isn't always consistent. Cancellations happen. Slow weeks happen. Life happens.

If you want to see what your session rate would need to be to cover your expenses even during a slower week, enter the number of sessions per week you'd realistically see on a slower month below. This is not your worst week. It's a realistic baseline.

Your buffer rate is higher than your session rate above. Charging the buffer rate means your expenses are still covered even if every week looked like a slower one. In the weeks you see your full number of sessions, the extra goes into your cushion. That cushion is what makes a slow week feel manageable instead of catastrophic.