Self-Employment Tax Calculator
Enter your expected net profit to estimate your self-employment tax and a reasonable total to set aside for taxes.
Self-employment tax is 15.3% of 92.35% of net earnings: 12.4% Social Security (up to the annual wage base) plus 2.9% Medicare, plus an Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly). This calculator uses the 2025 Social Security wage base of $176,100; that figure is adjusted annually, so verify the current-year number before relying on this for a large decision. The income-tax portion is a rough, adjustable estimate, not a bracket calculation, and does not account for credits, other income, or state-specific rules. This is an estimate for planning only, not tax advice or a filed return.
Self-employment tax catches people off guard
When you're self-employed, there's no employer withholding taxes from every paycheck, and no employer paying half of your Social Security and Medicare tax. You pay both halves yourself, which is what makes the self-employment tax rate 15.3% instead of the 7.65% withheld from a W-2 paycheck.
Owner-operators, freelancers, and single-member LLC owners are the clients we see run into this most, usually the first year they go independent. Setting aside money as you earn it, instead of discovering the total at tax time, is the difference between a manageable bill and a scramble.