🧑‍💼 Self-Employment Tax Calculator

The Self-Employment Tax Calculator estimates the Social Security and Medicare tax (together called SE tax, or FICA-equivalent tax) that freelancers, independent contractors, and small business owners owe on their net self-employment earnings. Unlike traditional employees, self-employed workers don't have an employer withholding and matching these taxes, so they're responsible for the full amount themselves. This is an estimate for planning purposes — consult a licensed accountant or tax professional for filing.

How It Works

The calculator first multiplies your net self-employment earnings by 92.35% to get your "net earnings from self-employment" — a built-in adjustment that mirrors the employer-side deduction a regular employee benefits from. It then applies the 12.4% Social Security rate up to the Social Security wage base (earnings above the wage base aren't subject to this portion), the 2.9% Medicare rate to all net earnings from self-employment, and an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on earnings above your filing threshold. Adding these together gives your total estimated SE tax, and the calculator also shows the deductible half of that amount, which reduces your taxable income on your personal return.

Why It Matters

SE tax is often the single largest tax bill for newly self-employed people, since it's layered on top of regular income tax and easy to underestimate when setting aside money for quarterly payments. Knowing your Social Security portion, Medicare portion, and Additional Medicare Tax separately helps you budget accurately and confirms whether you're approaching the wage base or Additional Medicare Tax threshold, both of which change your effective rate as income grows.

Tips for Accurate Results

• Use your net Schedule C profit (income minus deductible business expenses), not your gross self-employment revenue — SE tax only applies to net earnings.
• Double-check the Social Security wage base and Additional Medicare Tax threshold for the current tax year at ssa.gov and irs.gov before relying on the result, since both figures change annually or by filing status.
• Remember that half of your total SE tax is deductible on your personal income tax return — factor that into your overall tax planning, not just this calculator's total.
• If you also run the business as an S-Corp, note that SE tax generally does not apply to S-Corp distributions — use the Business Tax Calculator instead for that structure.