Self-Employment Tax Calculator

Estimate SE tax on your net self-employment income at the 15.3% rate — plus the half you can deduct.

How to use this calculator

Enter your net self-employment income (profit after business expenses) for the year. The calculator shows your total SE tax, the Social Security and Medicare portions, the effective rate on your income, and the deductible half you report on Schedule 1. Share a link with the number pre-filled, e.g. ?income=80000.

The formula

SE tax = net earnings × 92.35% × 15.3%, where 15.3% = 12.4% Social Security (up to the annual wage base) + 2.9% Medicare (no cap). The IRS applies the 92.35% factor so that self-employed workers are taxed like employees who split FICA with an employer.

Example: SE tax on $80,000

$80,000 × 92.35% = $73,880 in net earnings. SE tax = $73,880 × 15.3% = $11,303.64 ($9,161.12 Social Security + $2,142.52 Medicare). An effective rate of 14.13% on gross income, and $5,651.82 of it is deductible.

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