Enter your net self-employment income and see what you actually owe: the 15.3% SE tax, your federal income tax, and how much to set aside each quarter. Free, no signup.
Estimates use 2025 federal rules. Not tax advice.
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1. Self-employment tax. You pay both halves of Medicare and Social Security: 12.4% + 2.9% = 15.3%. But it's not charged on every dollar. The IRS applies a 92.35% factor first, because the employer half would have been deductible:
SE tax = net income × 0.9235 × 0.153
On $60,000 of net income that's roughly $8,479. Above $176,100 (2025) the Social Security portion stops, so the effective rate drops — the calculator handles that cap for you.
2. The deduction nobody mentions. You can deduct half of your SE tax from taxable income. That's why the federal number is lower than you'd expect.
3. Federal income tax. Applied to income after that deduction and the standard deduction ($15,000 single / $30,000 married filing jointly for 2025), using the graduated brackets.
4. Quarterly set-aside. Total tax ÷ 4. This is the number most freelancers actually need — it's what you move to savings each quarter so April isn't a crisis.