Self-Employment Tax Calculator

SE tax is the self-employed equivalent of FICA payroll taxes. It funds Social Security and Medicare. As a W-2 employee you pay half (7.65%) and your employer pays half. As a self-employed person you pay both halves, for a combined 15.3%.

You take 92.35% of your net self-employment earnings (the "SE base"), then apply 12.4% Social Security up to the wage base ($184,500 for 2026) and 2.9% Medicare on the entire amount. High earners also pay an additional 0.9% Medicare tax above filing-status thresholds.

It approximates the employer-side payroll tax deduction that W-2 employers get. By multiplying earnings by 92.35% before applying the SE tax rate, the IRS roughly equalizes the tax burden between W-2 and self-employed workers.

Yes. You can deduct one-half of the regular SE tax (the 12.4% + 2.9% portions) when calculating your adjusted gross income. The 0.9% additional Medicare tax is not deductible. This deduction lowers your federal income tax but not your SE tax itself.

No. SE tax only applies to net earnings of $400 or more. If your business showed a net loss, you owe $0 SE tax for that activity, and the loss may also reduce other income for income-tax purposes.

It can. The Social Security wage base ($184,500 for 2026) is shared across W-2 wages and SE earnings. If your W-2 already used part of that base, your SE income only owes the 12.4% Social Security portion on what is left.