Self-Employment Tax Calculator
Find out exactly how much self-employment tax you owe and how to reduce it. Free tool for freelancers and independent contractors.
Self-employment tax calculator
1099-NEC, cash sales, and other business income before expenses.
Deductible Schedule C–type expenses (software, supplies, mileage, etc.).
Used for the Additional Medicare (0.9%) threshold.
Boxes 1/3-style wages; reduces remaining Social Security wage base for SE calculations.
Social Security wage base (2026): $184,500.00. Update this constant when IRS publishes the new year's limit. Educational estimate only—not tax advice.
SE tax deduction (50%)
$0.00
You generally deduct half of self-employment tax on Form 1040—a valuable above-the-line break that lowers income tax (not SE tax).
Effective SE tax rate
—
On net SE income
Estimated quarterly (÷ 4)
—
Add income tax; see Form 1040-ES for full estimates
What is self-employment tax?
Self-employment tax is your share of Social Security and Medicare when you work for yourself. Employees and employers normally split these taxes (7.65% each). When you're self-employed, you pay both portions—often summarized as 15.3% on the portion of income those rules apply to—before caps and surtaxes. The good news: you can usually deduct half of your SE tax on your Form 1040, which lowers your regular income tax.
How SE tax is calculated
- Net income = gross self-employment income minus deductible business expenses.
- Multiply net income by 92.35% to approximate the amount subject to SE tax (this reflects the employer-equivalent adjustment in the statutory formula).
- Social Security: 12.4% on the portion of that amount that fits under the annual wage base, after accounting for W-2 wages that already used part of the base ($184,500.00 limit for 2026 in this tool).
- Medicare: 2.9% on the full adjusted SE earnings, plus 0.9% Additional Medicare when combined wages and net SE income exceed your filing threshold ($200,000.00 single /$250,000.00 MFJ / $125,000.00 MFS).
Example: $80,000.00 gross
$10,000.00 expenses → $70,000.00 net · × 92.35% = $64,645.00 SE base (no W-2 assumed).
- Social Security: $8,015.98
- Medicare (2.9%): $1,874.71
- Combined SE tax ≈ $9,890.69
Deduct roughly half of that SE tax on your 1040 (~$4,945.34) as the self-employment tax deduction.
Tips to reduce SE tax
- Deduct legitimate business expenses—every dollar of properly documented expense lowers net profit and thus SE tax.
- At higher income, discuss an S corporation election with a CPA—reasonable salary vs. distributions changes how employment taxes apply.
- Fund a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k) to reduce income tax; rules differ from a W-2 401(k)—get personalized advice.
- Track mileage, home office, and small purchases—they add up and are easy to lose without a system.
Frequently asked questions
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