Self-Employment Tax Calculator

Self-employment tax covers Social Security and Medicare contributions for people who work for themselves. When you are employed by a company, your employer pays half of these taxes and you pay the other half through payroll withholding. When you are self-employed, you are responsible for both halves - a combined rate of 15.3% on your net earnings.

The 15.3% breaks down into 12.4% for Social Security (applied to earnings up to the annual wage base) and 2.9% for Medicare (applied to all earnings with no cap). If your net self-employment income exceeds $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married filing jointly, an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax applies to the amount above that threshold.

Before calculating self-employment tax, the IRS allows you to reduce your net earnings by 7.65% - this adjustment accounts for the fact that employers get to deduct their share of payroll taxes as a business expense. You can also deduct half of your self-employment tax when calculating your adjusted gross income, which reduces your income tax liability.

Because no employer withholds taxes on self-employment income, the IRS generally requires you to make estimated quarterly tax payments. Missing these payments can result in underpayment penalties. Our quarterly payments calculator can help you estimate those amounts.

Last updated: April 2026. This calculator uses current IRS self-employment tax rates and thresholds. It is intended for estimation purposes only.