Estimate the Social Security and Medicare tax you owe on freelance, 1099, or self-employed net profit.
Self-employed workers pay both the employee and employer share of Social Security and Medicare tax — together called self-employment (SE) tax — on 92.35% of their net profit. Half of the SE tax you pay is then deductible from your income for federal income tax purposes.
Net Earnings = Net Profit × 92.35%
Social Security Tax = min(Net Earnings, wage base) × 12.4%
Medicare Tax = Net Earnings × 2.9%
Additional Medicare = (Net Earnings − threshold) × 0.9%, if above threshold
Deduction = Total SE Tax ÷ 2
Enter your net profit from self-employment (income minus business expenses) and your filing status. The calculator applies the current Social Security wage base and Additional Medicare Tax threshold for your filing status to estimate your total SE tax bill and the deduction you can claim.
A freelancer with $60,000 in net profit has $55,410 in net earnings subject to SE tax. That comes to roughly $6,871 in Social Security tax and $1,607 in Medicare tax, for a total self-employment tax near $8,478 — of which about $4,239 is deductible from taxable income.
Uses a Social Security wage base of $168,600 and an Additional Medicare Tax threshold of $200,000 (single) / $250,000 (joint) as planning estimates — confirm current-year IRS figures before filing.
It applies the combined Social Security and Medicare rate (15.3% in the US) to net self-employment earnings.
Traditional employees split this tax with their employer; self-employed individuals cover both halves.
No — it specifically funds Social Security and Medicare, calculated separately from income tax.