Free calculator · Tax year 2026

Self-Employment Tax Calculator

Estimate the Social Security and Medicare tax you owe on self-employment profit for tax year 2026, and see every step of the calculation instead of a single number.

Short answer: self-employment tax is 15.3% of 92.35% of your net profit — the Social Security portion (12.4%) stops at $184,500 of earnings for 2026, while the Medicare portion (2.9%) has no ceiling. This is separate from federal income tax.

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Your numbers

$

All 1099 / client / platform revenue for the year, before expenses.

$

Software, equipment, fees, advertising, business insurance and similar ordinary and necessary costs.

$

Wages from a job this year. These use up the Social Security wage base before your self-employment earnings do.

Filing status only affects the Additional Medicare Tax threshold in this calculator — the 15.3% rate itself does not vary by status.

Calculation breakdown (tax year 2026)

Estimated self-employment tax

$7,347

14.1% of net profit · $612 per month set aside · $1,837 per quarter

Gross self-employment income
$60,000
Less business expenses
− $8,000
Net profit (Schedule C)
$52,000
× 92.35% → net earnings from self-employment

Schedule SE applies the 92.35% factor before the tax rate.

$48,022
Social Security portion at 12.4%

Applied to $48,022 — wage base remaining after W-2 wages: $184,500.

$5,955
Medicare portion at 2.9%

No upper limit on the Medicare portion.

$1,393
Additional Medicare Tax at 0.9%

Applies to combined W-2 wages and self-employment earnings above $200,000 for Single. Wages count toward the threshold first, so $0 of self-employment earnings is charged here.

$0
Total self-employment tax
$7,347
Deductible half (adjustment to income)

One half of the Social Security and Medicare portions reduces the income on which federal income tax is calculated. It does not reduce this self-employment tax.

$3,674

This figure is only Social Security and Medicare. It does not include federal income tax. To see both together, plus quarterly payments, use the 1099 tax calculator.

Educational estimate, tax year 2026. This tool applies published federal rates to the numbers you enter. It is not tax advice and it is not your actual tax liability — your return can differ because of credits, other deductions, other income, and state or local tax. For a filing decision, use IRS guidance or a licensed tax professional. See our methodology.

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The formula, written out

  1. Net profit = gross self-employment income − deductible business expenses.
  2. Net earnings from self-employment = net profit × 0.9235.
  3. Social Security portion = min(net earnings, $184,500 − W-2 Social Security wages) × 0.124.
  4. Medicare portion = net earnings × 0.029.
  5. Additional Medicare Tax = the part of (W-2 wages + net earnings) above the filing-status threshold × 0.009.
  6. Deductible half = (Social Security portion + Medicare portion) × 0.5.

Additional Medicare Tax thresholds for 2026 (combined W-2 wages + net earnings)

  • Single: $200,000
  • Head of household: $200,000
  • Qualifying surviving spouse: $200,000
  • Married filing jointly: $250,000
  • Married filing separately: $125,000

This calculator accepts your W-2 wages, so wages are counted toward the threshold before self-employment earnings — the same ordering Form 8959 uses. Enter your wages for an accurate figure if you have both wage and self-employment income.

Worked example: $60,000 gross with $8,000 of expenses gives $52,000 net profit. Net earnings are $48,022. Social Security is $5,955 and Medicare is $1,393, for $7,347 of self-employment tax and a deductible half of $3,674.

Why self-employment tax feels higher than people expect

An employee earning wages pays 7.65% in Social Security and Medicare tax while the employer pays a matching 7.65%. When you work for yourself there is no other party to pay the second half, so both halves land on you. That is the entire reason the self-employed rate is 15.3% rather than 7.65% — it is not a penalty for freelancing.

Two structural details soften it. The 92.35% factor removes roughly the employer-side share from the base before the rate is applied, and one half of the resulting tax is deductible when computing federal income tax. Both are already reflected in the breakdown above.

The practical consequence for planning is that a freelancer needs a higher gross rate than an employee to reach the same take-home pay. Our freelance rate calculator builds that gap into the rate it produces, and how to price freelance work explains the pricing frameworks behind it.

Assumptions and what this does not include

What the calculation assumes

  • Tax year 2026 rates and thresholds only — figures are never mixed across years.
  • Net profit is treated as ordinary self-employment income reported on Schedule C.
  • W-2 wages you enter are treated as already subject to Social Security tax and consume the wage base first.
  • The $400 floor is tested against net earnings from self-employment (net profit × 92.35%), not against Schedule C net profit — so about $434 of net profit is required before the floor is reached.
  • The Additional Medicare Tax threshold is applied to combined wages plus net earnings.
  • Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent at each step, which can differ by a few cents from a filed return.

What is not included

  • Federal income tax — a separate calculation; use the 1099 tax calculator.
  • State, city and local income or business taxes.
  • Credits, dependents, itemized deductions and the qualified business income deduction.
  • Self-employed health insurance, SEP-IRA, solo 401(k) and other above-the-line deductions.
  • S-corporation salary/distribution structures, partnership allocations and farm income.
  • Church employee income, clergy and statutory employee special rules.

Primary sources

Rates, thresholds and deadlines are stored in a single dated configuration file and reviewed when the IRS publishes new inflation adjustments, so no figure on this page is hardcoded into page copy.

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