Self-Employment Tax Calculator

Self-employment tax is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security + 2.9% Medicare) applied to 92.35% of your net profit. On $80,000 of freelance profit in 2026, the taxable base is $73,880, so your SE tax is $11,304 - about 14.1% of profit - and you deduct half ($5,652) before income tax. This self-employment tax calculator runs every step for tax year 2026, and you can switch it to 2025 if you are still filing last year's return.

Not sure which tool you need? This page isolates the SE tax (Social Security + Medicare) on your 1099 profit. For your full federal bill across all income use the Income Tax Calculator; for take-home from a W-2 job use the Paycheck Calculator; to turn an hourly or contract rate into a yearly figure use the Salary Calculator; and to see whether you will owe or get money back at filing use the Tax Refund Calculator.

How self-employment (SE) tax is calculated

When you work for an employer, you and the employer each pay half of Social Security and Medicare (FICA). When you are self-employed, you pay both halves yourself - that combined amount is the self-employment tax. The formula on Schedule SE is:

The 92.35% factor exists because employees do not pay FICA on the "employer" half of their wages, so the law gives the self-employed an equivalent adjustment. The combined rate is 15.3% on the base up to the wage base ($184,500 for 2026, $176,100 for 2025), then 2.9% (Medicare) above it.

Schedule SE, step by step, on $80,000

Here is the exact sequence the calculator runs, using $80,000 of net profit (no W-2 wages) as an example. The result is the same for 2026 and 2025 and for every filing status, because $80,000 is well below the wage base. You can follow the same five steps with your own number.

The deductible half in the last row is an adjustment to income on Form 1040 - it lowers your income tax, not the SE tax itself.

2026 rates, wage base & thresholds

Once your net earnings push past the $184,500 Social Security wage base for 2026, the 12.4% portion stops and only the 2.9% Medicare portion keeps applying, plus the separate 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax for high earners.

Self-employment tax by net profit (2026)

How much SE tax you owe at each profit level, computed with the Schedule SE formula (no W-2 wages). Notice the effective rate falls once the SE base clears the $184,500 wage base, because the 12.4% Social Security portion caps out while only 2.9% Medicare continues. The last column is the separate Additional Medicare Tax for a single filer, which is not part of SE tax and not part of the deductible half.

Additional Medicare (0.9%) is shown for a single filer; it starts once the SE base tops $200,000. Married filing jointly, that threshold rises to $250,000, so the $250,000 row would owe no Additional Medicare and the $300,000 row only $243. For 2025, the Social Security cap was $21,836 (12.4% of $176,100), so the $200,000 row came to $27,193 of SE tax instead of $28,234; rows below the wage base are identical in both years.

The deductible half of SE tax

You may deduct one-half of your SE tax as an above-the-line adjustment on Schedule 1 of Form 1040. This reduces the income on which your federal income tax is figured - it does not reduce the SE tax itself. In the $80,000 example, that is $5,652 shaved off your income before the standard deduction and brackets apply. The separate 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax is not part of SE tax, so it never enters this deduction.

SE tax vs. income tax

SE tax and federal income tax are two separate bills. SE tax funds Social Security and Medicare at a flat 15.3% (up to the wage base). Income tax is progressive and based on your taxable income after the standard deduction (for 2026: $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household; for 2025: $15,750, $31,500 and $23,625 after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised them) and the half-SE-tax deduction. Turn on the income-tax option above to estimate both at once, or run your full federal bill through the dedicated Income Tax Calculator. To see exactly which bracket your next dollar of profit lands in, the Tax Bracket Calculator breaks it down.

How to use this calculator

You only need a couple of numbers to get a realistic estimate. Work through the fields in order:

1. Tax year: 2026 is the default; switch to 2025 if you are finishing last year's return, so the right wage base, standard deduction and brackets apply.
2. Net self-employment earnings: enter your business profit - gross 1099 and cash income minus your deductible business expenses, i.e. the bottom line of your Schedule C, not your total revenue.
3. Filing status: pick single, married filing jointly, head of household or married filing separately. This sets the Additional Medicare threshold ($200,000 / $250,000 / $200,000 / $125,000) and, if you turn it on, the standard deduction and income-tax brackets.
4. W-2 wages (if any): if you also have a job, enter the wages from that W-2 so the calculator does not charge you the 12.4% portion twice on the same wage base and lowers your Additional Medicare threshold correctly.
5. Income-tax option: switch it on to layer a federal (and optional flat state) income-tax estimate on top of the SE tax for a fuller picture of what you will owe.

The result updates instantly. Read your total SE tax at the top, then check the breakdown into Social Security, Medicare, the deductible one-half, and - if enabled - your estimated income tax.

Who pays self-employment tax

You generally owe SE tax if your net earnings from self-employment (92.35% of your net profit) were $400 or more in the year. That sweeps in a wide range of workers:

• Freelancers and consultants paid on 1099-NEC instead of a W-2.
• Gig workers - rideshare drivers, delivery couriers, and task-platform workers.
• Independent contractors and sole proprietors running an unincorporated business.
• Most single-member LLC owners, whose business income flows to their personal return.
• Side-hustlers with a day job, on the profit from the side activity (not the W-2 wages) - to see the take-home pay from the W-2 side, use the Paycheck Calculator.

Statutory employees, S-corporation shareholders paid a reasonable W-2 salary, and certain limited partners are treated differently - their wages or distributions may not be subject to SE tax in the same way.

A second worked example: high earner past the wage base

Suppose you net $250,000 as a freelancer in 2026. Your SE base is 92.35% of that, or $230,875. The 12.4% Social Security portion stops at the $184,500 wage base, so Social Security tax is capped at $22,878 (12.4% × $184,500), not 12.4% of the full base. Medicare at 2.9% still applies to the entire $230,875, adding $6,695, for SE tax of $29,573. As a single filer you also cross the $200,000 Additional Medicare threshold, so Form 8959 adds 0.9% of the $30,875 above it, or $278, for $29,851 in total. That is far less than a naive 15.3% × $250,000 ($38,250) because the Social Security portion is capped. Your deductible half is $14,787, figured on the $29,573 SE tax only. This is exactly why high earners should never apply a flat 15.3% to everything.

Quarterly estimated payments

Because nobody withholds tax from a 1099 check, the IRS expects you to prepay your SE and income tax in four installments. For most years the due dates fall around April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. A practical approach:

• Estimate your full-year SE tax and income tax with this calculator, then split the quarters with the Estimated Tax Calculator.
• Divide by four and pay roughly that each quarter (adjust if your income is uneven).
• Use the IRS safe harbor: paying at least 100% of last year's total tax (110% if your prior-year AGI was over $150,000) generally avoids an underpayment penalty even if you owe more at filing.

Setting aside money as you get paid - rather than scrambling in April - is the single habit that keeps the self-employed out of penalty trouble.

How much to set aside for taxes as a freelancer

A rough total tax bill - SE tax plus federal income tax - by profit level, so you know what share of each 1099 payment to bank. This estimate assumes a single filer in 2026 taking the $16,100 standard deduction, with no other income, state tax, tax credits, QBI deduction, or retirement contributions; those would move the income-tax column.

This is why the classic "set aside 25-30%" rule holds up: at lower profit the total lands nearer 18-23%, climbing toward 30% as more income falls in higher brackets. Totals are rounded from unrounded parts, so a column can differ by $1 from the sum of the rounded figures. Add your state's rate on top if it has an income tax.

Lower your self-employment tax

You cannot change the 15.3% rate, but you can change the base it applies to and the income tax stacked on top:

• Track every legitimate business expense. Supplies, software, mileage, a home office, and professional fees all reduce net earnings - and therefore SE tax - directly.
• Contribute to a retirement plan. A SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) lowers your income tax (though not the SE tax itself), and self-employed retirement contributions are a major planning lever.
• Consider an S-corporation election once profits are high and steady. Paying yourself a reasonable salary can shrink the earnings subject to SE tax - but it adds payroll filing costs and IRS scrutiny, so weigh it with a tax pro.
• Deduct half your SE tax and any self-employed health insurance premiums, both of which trim the income on which your federal tax is figured.

Key terms explained

• Net earnings: business profit (Schedule C bottom line) - what is left after expenses, and the starting point for SE tax.
• SE taxable base: 92.35% of net earnings; the figure the 12.4% and 2.9% rates actually apply to.
• Wage base: the $184,500 (2026) cap on earnings subject to the 12.4% Social Security portion ($176,100 for 2025). Medicare has no such cap.
• FICA: the combined Social Security and Medicare tax that employers and employees split on a W-2 - the same taxes the self-employed pay in full as SE tax.
• Additional Medicare Tax: an extra 0.9% on combined wages and self-employment earnings above $200,000 (single or HoH) / $250,000 (MFJ) / $125,000 (MFS), figured on Form 8959 and not deductible.
• Schedule SE: the IRS form where you compute SE tax; Schedule C is where you compute the net earnings that feed it.

How your SE-tax estimate fits your real tax picture

The number at the top of this calculator is one layer of what you will actually send the IRS, so it helps to see where it sits. Your self-employment tax is added on top of your federal income tax on Form 1040 - the two are computed separately and then summed into one total bill. The deductible one-half of SE tax flows back up to lower the income on which that federal tax is figured, which is why a higher SE tax slightly softens your income tax. When you make quarterly payments, you are prepaying both halves together, and at filing you reconcile the whole amount. So the SE tax here is not a stand-alone bill you pay separately; it is a component of your single annual tax liability, alongside income tax and any state tax. For the full stack across every source of income, pair this estimate with the Income Tax Calculator, and use the Effective Tax Rate Calculator to see what share of your total income all of it adds up to.

SE tax vs. an S-corporation salary

Once a sole proprietorship throws off steady, sizeable profit, the most-discussed way to cut self-employment tax is electing S-corporation status. As a sole proprietor, your entire net profit is hit with the 15.3% SE tax (up to the wage base). As an S-corp owner, you split your take into a reasonable W-2 salary - which is subject to Social Security and Medicare payroll tax - and remaining distributions, which generally are not subject to those payroll taxes. The payroll-tax savings can be real, but the IRS requires that the salary be genuinely reasonable for your role, and the structure adds payroll processing, a separate business return (Form 1120-S), and accounting costs. As a rough rule, the math often only pencils out once net profit comfortably clears the mid five figures and is stable year to year. This calculator models the straightforward sole-proprietor case; if you are weighing an S-corp election, run both scenarios with a tax professional before deciding.

First year self-employed: what to expect

If 2026 is your first full year on 1099 income, the SE tax line is usually the surprise. Workers coming from a W-2 job are used to seeing only the employee half of FICA (7.65%) on their pay stub; self-employment means paying both halves, so the bite roughly doubles. A few habits make the first year smoother: open a separate tax savings account and move 25-30% of every payment into it, register for the IRS quarterly-payment system early so you are not scrambling in April, and keep clean records of expenses from day one because every deductible dollar lowers the base this calculator runs the 15.3% against. If you switched mid-year from a salaried job, enter the wages from that earlier W-2 so the calculator credits what you already paid toward the $184,500 wage base and does not double-charge you. Treat the first quarterly estimate as a learning round - you can adjust the next three as your real income takes shape.

Limitations and assumptions

This calculator is a planning estimate, not a filed return. Keep these assumptions in mind:

• It uses the 2026 wage base ($184,500), standard deductions and brackets by default, or the 2025 figures ($176,100 wage base) if you switch the year.
• The optional income-tax estimate does not include tax credits, itemized deductions, the QBI deduction, the new Schedule 1-A deductions, or retirement contributions, so your real income tax may be lower.
• The Additional Medicare Tax shown covers your self-employment income only. If your W-2 wages alone exceed the threshold, the tax on those wages is mostly handled by your employer's withholding and is not shown here.
• State and local taxes are modeled only as a flat user-entered rate, not the actual rules of any specific state.
• It assumes the net earnings you enter are already after business expenses (your Schedule C profit).
• Special situations - church employee income, farm optional methods, and partnership rules - are not modeled. When in doubt, follow the Schedule SE instructions or ask a tax professional.

How it compares to related calculators

This page answers "how much self-employment tax do I owe on my 1099 profit?" If your question is a little different, a sister tool fits better:

• For your full federal bill across all income, use the Income Tax Calculator.
• To split your SE and income tax into the four quarterly installments, use the Estimated Tax Calculator.
• To see take-home pay from a W-2 paycheck, use the Paycheck Calculator.
• To find which bracket your next dollar lands in, use the Tax Bracket Calculator.
• To gauge the share of income you actually pay, use the Effective Tax Rate Calculator.
• To estimate whether you will owe or get money back, use the Tax Refund Calculator.
• To convert an hourly or contract rate into an annual figure before you start, use the Salary Calculator.