Know your self-employment tax. Plan your next step.
Estimate Social Security and Medicare tax, compare a business expense, and build a savings target. For one sole proprietor, including a side business alongside W-2 work.
This is not a total income-tax calculator. Federal and state income taxes are not calculated. Add independently estimated income-tax amounts in the optional reserve planner.
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1. Estimate self-employment tax
Your planning snapshot
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Methodology & limits
Regular method: net profit × 92.35%. If adjusted net earnings are below $400, regular self-employment tax is zero. Social Security is 12.4% of the smaller of adjusted earnings and the remaining $184,500 wage base. Medicare is 2.9% of adjusted earnings. Additional Medicare attributable to this business is 0.9% above the applicable threshold after Medicare wages.
Additional Medicare thresholds: $250,000 joint, $125,000 married separately, $200,000 otherwise. The income-tax deduction shown is half the regular SE tax, excluding Additional Medicare. It is a deduction, not a refund.
Excluded: income-tax brackets, QBI, credits, safe-harbor tests, penalties, spouse SE income, multiple-owner businesses, S corporations, railroad compensation, church income, optional Schedule SE methods and special exemptions. Losses do not generate a tax refund in this tool. Reserve targets are budgeting estimates, not IRS installment amounts. Inputs are processed in this browser; this widget does not transmit or persist them.
Sources: IRS self-employment tax · IRS Additional Medicare · SSA wage base · IRS estimated tax guidance. Planning only; verify your filing and payment figures with a qualified tax professional.
Self-Employed Tax Calculators
Self-employment gives you control over your work, but it also puts tax planning on your calendar. Start with your business revenue and deductible expenses, estimate the Social Security and Medicare portion, then choose the next tool for income tax, quarterly payments or deductions.
Direct answer: These free self-employed tax tools estimate 2026 US self-employment tax, show how an extra deductible expense changes that estimate, and turn a savings target into a monthly amount. The main calculator does not calculate federal or state income tax. Use the related tools for a broader estimate.
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Which self-employed tax calculator should you use?
| Your question | Start here |
| How much Social Security and Medicare tax might my business generate? | The self-employment tax estimator above |
| What difference would an extra business expense make? | The expense comparison in your results |
| How much money should I save each month? | The optional savings target planner |
| How do I plan estimated payments? | Quarterly tax calculator |
| What might remain after business costs and taxes? | Freelancer take-home pay calculator |
| Could my workspace qualify for a deduction? | Home office deduction calculator |
How to use these tools
Enter annual business revenue and eligible deductible expenses. Include the full year you are planning for rather than mixing monthly income with yearly costs. Use your records to avoid subtracting a platform fee twice if your starting revenue already excludes it.
If you also have a job, enter your own Social Security wages and the Medicare wages relevant to your filing status. These are separate fields because W-2 Boxes 3 and 5 can differ. For a joint return, include both spouses’ Medicare wages, but only your own Social Security wages in the personal wage-base field. The calculator supports one self-employed person; it does not combine two spouses’ businesses.
Next, enter a separate expense to compare. For the savings planner, add independently estimated federal and state/local income-tax amounts attributable to this business. Leaving them at zero produces an SE-tax-only target. Enter money already reserved or paid toward the same target, counting each dollar once.
Understanding the 2026 calculation
Under the regular method modeled here, business profit is revenue minus deductible business expenses. The calculator applies the 92.35% adjustment and, when adjusted earnings reach $400, calculates the regular Social Security and Medicare components. The combined rate is 15.3% before the Social Security cap and any Additional Medicare Tax. Source: IRS Topic 554.
For 2026, the Social Security wage base is $184,500. Your own covered wages use up part of that base before business earnings are considered. A spouse’s wages do not use up your personal Social Security limit. Source: Social Security Administration.
The calculator also includes the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax attributable to the business after accounting for entered Medicare wages. Its thresholds are $250,000 for married filing jointly, $125,000 for married filing separately, and $200,000 for other supported statuses. It does not calculate Additional Medicare already attributable to wages alone. Source: IRS Topic 560.
Example: $60,000 revenue and $10,000 expenses
Suppose a single freelancer has no W-2 wages and enters the default example:
| Step | Amount |
| Annual revenue | $60,000.00 |
| Deductible expenses | $10,000.00 |
| Business profit | $50,000.00 |
| Adjusted earnings: profit × 92.35% | $46,175.00 |
| Social Security component | $5,725.70 |
| Regular Medicare component | $1,339.08 |
| Estimated regular SE tax | $7,064.78 |
| Deductible half of regular SE tax | $3,532.39 |
Figures are rounded for display. This is not the freelancer’s complete tax bill: income tax and other return-specific items remain separate.
What does a $1,000 deduction actually save?
Using the same example, an additional fully deductible $1,000 expense reduces the modeled SE-related tax by approximately $141.30. The expense still costs about $858.70 after that reduction, before considering income-tax effects.
That comparison is useful when deciding whether a purchase is affordable. A tax deduction does not make a purchase free. An expense must qualify, and some purchases cannot be deducted in full immediately. Enter the deductible amount for this tax year rather than assuming every purchase price is an immediate write-off.
The result can differ when wages have already used the Social Security wage base or when income crosses a threshold. The tool recalculates both scenarios instead of applying one savings percentage to every user.
Turn the estimate into a savings habit
The savings planner adds your SE-related estimate to the income-tax amounts you supply. It subtracts money already allocated and spreads the remaining gap across your chosen number of months.
For example, add a hypothetical $4,000 federal income-tax estimate and $1,000 state/local estimate to the default SE calculation. The target becomes $12,064.78. If $2,000 is already reserved and you spread the remainder across six months, the monthly savings amount is approximately $1,677.46.
Those income-tax amounts are illustrative inputs, not tax figures calculated from the example’s income. The savings target uses your baseline expenses; the separate extra-expense comparison does not automatically replace that baseline.
Savings targets and quarterly payments are different
A monthly savings transfer helps with cash flow. It does not establish how much the IRS requires by a particular date. Estimated payments depend on your return, withholding, credits, payment history and applicable rules. Uneven income can also affect the calculation.
For most calendar-year individuals, the standard 2026 estimated-payment dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. Special rules and disaster relief can change deadlines. Check IRS Publication 505 and use the quarterly tax calculator for the next planning step.
Frequently asked questions
Is self-employment tax the same as income tax?
No. The main estimate here concerns Social Security and Medicare. Federal and state income taxes require additional information and are not calculated by this widget.
Can I use the calculator with a W-2 job?
Yes, for the supported one-business-owner scenario. Enter the correct annual wage amounts in both wage fields. Do not use take-home pay from your payslips.
Does the standard deduction reduce this SE-tax estimate?
No. This model does not subtract the personal standard deduction from business profit for SE-tax purposes. It also does not calculate your federal taxable income.
Does a loss produce a refund here?
No. The tool shows the business loss but returns zero SE tax under its regular-method assumptions. It does not model loss carryovers, offsets, credits or refunds.
Are my figures saved?
This widget calculates in your browser and does not transmit or save its inputs. Use Copy or Print if you want a record. Other website services remain subject to the site’s privacy policy.
Can this replace tax preparation software?
No. It excludes income-tax brackets, QBI, credits, safe-harbor tests, penalties, S corporations, spouse self-employment income and special Schedule SE methods. Use it for planning and verify filing or payment amounts with a qualified tax professional.
Methodology and sources
This tool uses a regular-method US sole-proprietor planning model for tax year 2026. Source check: September 28, 2026. It uses unrounded intermediate calculations and rounds displayed currency to cents. The deductible half excludes Additional Medicare Tax.