Estimate the self-employment tax on your net profit — Social Security plus Medicare — with the deductible half and a quarterly estimate.
Uses 2026 figures: 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit (12.4% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base per IRS Topic 751 + 2.9% Medicare, no cap). Excludes the 0.9% additional Medicare tax on high earners and any income tax. Half of SE tax is deductible on your return. Not tax advice.
Employees split Social Security and Medicare taxes with their employer; the self-employed pay both halves — 15.3% total. It applies to 92.35% of net profit (a built-in adjustment that mirrors the employer-side deduction). Social Security stops at the annual wage base; Medicare has no cap. You can deduct half of the total on your income tax return.
SE tax = 15.3% × (net profit × 0.9235), Social Security capped at the wage base
Self-employment tax is not a tax on being self-employed. It is Social Security and Medicare — the same FICA an employee pays — with both halves landing on you. An employee contributes 6.2% and 1.45% and the employer matches it; working for yourself you are both parties, so the IRS rate is 15.3%: "12.4% for social security (old-age, survivors, and disability insurance) and 2.9% for Medicare (hospital insurance)." It sits entirely on top of federal income tax, which is the part that surprises people in their first profitable year.
Two adjustments soften it. The tax applies to 92.35% of net profit rather than all of it — an allowance standing in for the employer-side deduction an employee's boss would have taken — and half of the resulting tax is deductible against your income tax. Both are built into this page.
The calculator opens at $60,000 of net profit — business income after expenses, not gross receipts. Work it through:
Two comparisons make that mean something. Multiplying $60,000 by 15.3% gives $9,180 — the shortcut most people run in their head — which overstates the bill by $702.27 because it skips the 92.35% step. And the effective rate on your actual profit is 14.13%, not 15.3%. An employee earning $60,000 in wages pays 7.65%, or $4,590: the extra $3,887.73 is the employer half you now carry.
Then take the deduction back. Half of $8,477.73 is $4,238.87, which comes off your income before federal income tax is figured. Someone in the 22% bracket recovers about $932.55 of it — real money, but a reduction in income tax, never a reduction in the self-employment tax itself.
This page answers one question: given a profit figure, what is the SE tax. It cannot tell you what the profit figure is, and that is the harder job — income by payer, expenses by Schedule C category, mileage with dates, and a set-aside that stays accurate as the year moves. Our 1099 tax tracker is built for exactly that: it produces the net profit this calculator needs, with the deduction detail behind it. For the other half of the bill, the income tax calculator estimates the federal income tax that sits on top, and the mileage deduction calculator prices the deduction most sole traders under-claim.
Yes — SE tax funds Social Security and Medicare and is separate from federal income tax. Budget for both.
It's the equivalent of deducting the employer half before applying the tax, so the self-employed aren't taxed on money employees wouldn't be.
Related: income tax calculator · freelance rate calculator · mileage deduction calculator · all free calculators.
More free taxes & bookkeeping tools — no signup, works on any device.
Yes. The Self-Employment Tax Calculator is completely free, runs in your browser, and never asks for a signup, email, or download. Enter your numbers and the result updates instantly.
It uses standard formulas and recalculates the moment you change a value, so the math is exact for the inputs you enter. Treat the result as a reliable planning estimate; for decisions with legal or tax consequences, confirm the figures with a qualified professional.
Yes. The calculator is mobile-friendly and works on any phone, tablet, or computer — there is no app to install and nothing to save.
Yes. Scroll to “Add this free calculator to your site” above and copy the embed snippet to place the live calculator on your blog or website for free.
Last reviewed: September 2026. Free to use, no signup — Self-Employment Tax Calculator by ToolWise Digital.
Copy the snippet to embed the live calculator on your blog or website — free for any site. The small “Calculator by ToolWise Digital” credit line keeps it free; you're welcome to remove it, but we appreciate you leaving it.
Ready-made Google Sheets & Excel trackers for money, taxes, and small business — each with a free phone version.
Browse the shop →Simple Monthly Budget and our Small Business Bookkeeping template (Google Sheets & Excel) — no signup, no wall, just the files. If you also want the occasional short note on pricing, bookkeeping and the money side of a small business, the list is here. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.