Self-Employment Tax Calculator
Estimate the 15.3% self-employment tax freelancers and 1099 workers owe.
This is an estimate for the 2026 tax year, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Figures are simplified and don't include every credit or deduction. Talk to a tax professional before making decisions.
Net profit is your Schedule C income after business expenses — not your gross revenue.
$11,304
$9,161
$2,143
incl. Additional Medicare
$5,652
half of SE tax, deductible from income tax
How the SE tax breaks down
Self-employment tax breakdown
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net profit | $80,000 |
| Net earnings subject to SE tax× 92.35% = net earnings subject to SE tax | $73,880 |
| Social Security (12.4%) | $9,161 |
| Medicare (2.9%) | $2,143 |
| Additional Medicare (0.9%)$0 unless net earnings exceed the threshold for your filing status | $0 |
| Total self-employment tax | $11,304 |
Effective rate on net profit: 14.1%
How this is calculated
When you're self-employed, there's no employer splitting the Social Security and Medicare bill with you — you owe both halves yourself, which is why the self-employment tax rate is 15.3% instead of the 7.65% an employee sees withheld from a paycheck.
The math doesn't start from your full net profit, though. The IRS first reduces it to 92.35% — a long-standing adjustment meant to roughly mirror how an employer's share of FICA is never counted as the employee's wages in the first place. That reduced amount, "net earnings from self-employment," is what the 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare rates actually apply to.
Just like FICA for employees, Social Security only applies up to an annual wage cap, and an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies only once your net earnings pass a threshold that depends on your filing status.
One bit of good news: the IRS lets you deduct half of your self-employment tax from your income when calculating federal income tax owed, since that half is treated like the employer's share would have been.