General information for US contractors
2026 Self-Employment Tax Calculator
Estimate the ordinary Social Security and Medicare portions for a bounded normal-method case. This is a planning worksheet, not tax preparation or a complete tax bill.
Illustrative starting inputs, not your tax return. Tax year 2026 only. Check the result with a CPA.
Additional Medicare Tax is excluded. It may apply based on your filing status, wages and household income. Federal and state income tax, credits, withholding and estimated payments are also excluded. This result is not your total tax or a recommended quarterly payment.
Ordinary self-employment tax estimate
- Adjusted net earnings before the $400 test
- $92,350.00
- Social Security portion
- $11,451.40
- Regular Medicare portion
- $2,678.15
- Ordinary self-employment tax only
- $14,129.55
- Estimated one-half deduction, not a tax credit
- $7,064.78
For one person with normal-method nonfarm sole-proprietor or disregarded single-member LLC profit. Do not use for partnerships, corporations, farming, church income, optional methods, international exceptions or adjustments across multiple businesses. Use your own Social Security wages, not a spouse's wages or Medicare wages. No annual wage-base rollover is automatic.
Inputs stay in this page. Nothing is sent or saved. Ask a qualified tax professional to check your circumstances and the current IRS forms.
The ordinary 2026 calculation
For this normal-method estimate, positive net profit is multiplied by 0.9235. If adjusted net earnings are below $400, the ordinary estimate is zero. This does not cover special filing rules or optional methods.
The Social Security portion is 12.4% of adjusted net earnings up to the unused part of the 2026 $184,500 wage base. Your own Social Security wages reduce that space. Regular Medicare is 2.9% of adjusted net earnings, without that cap. The displayed one-half deduction is half the ordinary tax, not a dollar-for-dollar tax credit.
The tool keeps intermediate precision and formats results to cents. IRS return rounding and other return items can produce different figures. A $100,000 profit with no Social Security wages gives $92,350 adjusted earnings and $14,129.55 ordinary self-employment tax in this model.
Check the rest of the return separately
Additional Medicare Tax is a separate 0.9% calculation affected by filing status and wage/self-employment income. This tool excludes it rather than guessing household facts. It also excludes federal/state income tax, QBI and other deductions, credits, withholding and estimated-payment rules.
Use the current IRS forms and a qualified professional for the actual return. Negative profit produces zero in this isolated ordinary estimate; it does not determine the treatment of losses or multiple businesses. The tool is fixed to 2026 and must be reviewed before any annual update.
Sources and checked dates
- IRS 2026 Schedule SE, Part I(2026-11-11)
- IRS 2026 Schedule SE instructions(2026-11-11)
- IRS Additional Medicare Tax questions(2026-11-11)