About the Self-Employment Tax Calculator
When you work for yourself, no employer withholds Social Security and Medicare for you. Instead you pay self-employment (SE) tax, which covers both the employee and employer shares, on top of regular income tax.
Actual tax liability depends on individual circumstances — other income, deductions, credits, and business structure all matter — so treat these results as a planning estimate.
How It Works
Net profit is your self-employment income minus business expenses. SE tax applies to 92.35% of net profit: 12.4% for Social Security up to the annual wage base, 2.9% for Medicare, and 0.9% Additional Medicare above the threshold for your filing status. No SE tax is due if net earnings are under $400.
Half of the SE tax (excluding Additional Medicare) is deductible, so income tax is calculated on net profit plus other income, minus that deduction, minus your deductions. The quarterly estimate simply divides the annual total by four.
Formula
Example
A single freelancer earns $90,000 with $10,000 of business expenses, has no other income, and takes the standard deduction (2026).
Inputs
- Net profit
- $80,000
- Filing status
- Single
- Deduction
- $16,100 standard
Results
- SE tax
- $11,303.64
- Federal income tax
- $7,526.60
- Total
- $18,830.24
- Quarterly payment
- $4,707.56
Assumptions & Limitations
- Sole proprietor / single-member LLC reporting on Schedule C; S-corporation salaries and partnerships are different.
- Not included: the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction, self-employed health insurance and retirement deductions, credits, and state or local taxes. You can reflect deductions you know about in "Estimated Deductions".
- No W-2 wages: wages from a job would reduce the Social Security part of SE tax once combined earnings pass the wage base.
- Quarterly payments are a simple one-quarter split. IRS safe-harbor rules based on last year's tax may allow different amounts.
Understanding Your Results
- Estimated Self-Employment Tax: Social Security and Medicare for the self-employed.
- Estimated Federal Income Tax: Regular income tax after deducting half of SE tax and your deductions.
- Estimated Quarterly Payment: The annual total divided into four estimated tax payments.