Self-employment tax calculator — 2026
Work out what you will owe, and what share of every payment to put aside so it is there when the bill arrives.
Nothing is sent anywhere. The maths runs in your browser — close the tab and your numbers are gone.
Set aside this share of every payment
—Where that number comes from
| Income | |
| Less business expenses | |
| Net profit | |
| Net earnings subject to SE tax (92.35%) | |
| Social Security 12.4% | |
| Medicare 2.9% (no ceiling) | |
| Additional Medicare 0.9% | |
| Self-employment tax | |
| Less deductible half of SE tax | |
| Less QBI deduction (20%, estimate) | |
| Income subject to income tax | |
| Income tax at your bracket | |
| Total federal tax |
Your four quarterly payments
| 15 April 2026 | |
| 15 June 2026 | |
| 15 September 2026 | |
| 15 January 2027 |
If a date lands on a weekend or a federal holiday it moves to the next business day. The quarters are unevenly spaced — that is not a mistake, that is how the IRS set them up.
Read this before you trust the number. This is an estimate for setting money aside, not a tax return.
It leaves out the standard deduction on purpose, so the answer comes out slightly high rather than slightly low — on a set-aside tool, that is the safe direction to be wrong in. It does not know about state or local tax, a spouse's W-2 withholding, credits, or a prior-year safe harbor, any of which can move the real figure a long way.
The QBI deduction is shown at a flat 20%. Above roughly $200,000 of taxable income it begins to phase out for some kinds of work, and this flat estimate stops being reliable there.
Want the number to update itself?
This page gives you one answer for one year. We also send one short email when a figure in it changes — the IRS moved the mileage rate in the middle of 2026, so it happens.
This calculator does the arithmetic once. The tracker does it after every payment you log, sorts your expenses into Schedule C categories, and runs 23 checks on what you entered. Excel and Google Sheets.
Sold on Etsy, not here. Nothing on this site is for sale.
How self-employment tax actually works
On a payslip, Social Security and Medicare are split between you and an employer — you each pay half. Working for yourself, you are both halves. That is the whole reason self-employment tax exists and why it surprises people in year one: it lands on top of income tax, not instead of it.
It is charged on 92.35% of your net profit, not all of it. The Social Security part is 12.4% and stops at $184,500 of earnings in 2026. The Medicare part is 2.9% and never stops. Above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly) another 0.9% is added on the excess.
Half of what you pay comes back as a deduction against income tax — the calculator above already does that for you.
Sources
Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base — the 2026
figure of $184,500 —
ssa.gov/oact/cola/cbb.html
IRS, Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) —
irs.gov
IRS, Estimated Taxes — the four due dates —
irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estimated-taxes
General information, not tax advice. We are not accountants and nothing here replaces one. Rules and figures change — check the pages linked above, and take anything that depends on your own situation to a tax professional.