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Creators & Freelancers · Startup costs

How much tax do you owe on 1099 income?

Work out your 2026 self-employment tax, your federal income tax, and what to set aside each quarter. Every rule here comes straight from the IRS, for the 2026 tax year, and we show which document each number came from.

This is your FEDERAL tax. It is not your whole tax bill. Forty-one states also tax this income, and some cities do too. A freelancer in California or New York can owe several thousand dollars a year on top of everything you see here, and in New York City there is a third layer. No free federal source publishes state rules, so rather than guess at them we have left them out and told you plainly, which is more than most 1099 calculators do. Check your own state before you decide what to set aside. Everything below is for the 2026 tax year, on IRS figures.

§ 01 Your numbers

Sets your standard deduction, your tax brackets and your Additional Medicare threshold. 2026 figures, from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
Everything you were paid before expenses: 1099-NEC, 1099-K, and cash. This default is a starting point we picked, not an average of anything. Put your own number in.
Software, gear, fees, insurance, contractors, the deductible share of your home office. Do not include mileage here, there is a box for it below.
The 2026 standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile (IRS Notice 2026-10). Leave at zero if you claim actual vehicle costs instead, or if you do not drive for work.
Leave at zero if freelancing is your only income. If you enter wages, the result shows only the tax your freelance work ADDS on top, which is the number you actually need to set aside.
This only changes your answer if your taxable income is above about $201,750 (single). Below that it makes no difference at all, so if you are under that, ignore it. Above it, the answer matters a lot. Say yes if you are paid for endorsing products, for licensing your name, image, voice or likeness, for appearing on camera or at events, or for consulting, health, law, accounting, athletics or financial advice. The IRS calls this a specified service trade or business (SSTB), and its catch-all covers most sponsored creator income.
Estimated cost
$16,648

Typical range $14,983 – $16,648

  • Self-employment tax (Social Security + Medicare)$11,304
  • Federal income tax$5,344
  • Total$16,648
See next steps →

§ 02 What you owe, and what to set aside

Self-employment tax$11,304
Federal income tax$5,344
Set aside each quarter$4,162
You keep, after federal tax$63,352

Federal tax only, tax year 2026. The figure shown assumes you take the standard deduction and claim no retirement contribution, no self-employed health insurance premium and no home-office deduction. Each of those lowers the bill and none of them raises it, so treat the headline as the top of your likely range. The low end shown is simply the headline minus 10 percent. That 10 percent is our own rough allowance for the deductions above, not a figure we calculated, and a solo 401(k) on its own can cut a good deal more than that. Separately, and do not confuse the two: the IRS safe harbour says you avoid an underpayment penalty if you PAY at least 90 percent of your 2026 tax during the year. That is a rule about payments, not an estimate of what you owe.

Where the money goes

Self-employment tax (Social Security + Medicare)$11,304
Federal income tax$5,344

Recommended next steps

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At this level the quarterly payments and a retirement account are the two levers that actually move the number. A solo 401(k) or SEP IRA reduces this bill directly.

By the numbers

  • Self-employment tax is 15.3 percent: 12.4 percent for Social Security plus 2.9 percent for Medicare. It applies to 92.35 percent of your net profit, not to all of it, and not to your gross income. Skipping that 92.35 percent step is the single most common error in 1099 calculators, and on an $80,000 profit it overstates the tax by $936.
  • For 2026 the Social Security portion stops at $184,500 of earnings (IRS Pub 15 and Form 1040-ES). Once your net profit passes about $199,783 the 12.4 percent simply switches off, and only the uncapped 2.9 percent Medicare portion continues. The maximum Social Security part of SE tax is $22,878.
  • The 20 percent QBI deduction still exists in 2026 and is now permanent, but it is not 20 percent of your profit. It is reduced by the half-of-SE-tax deduction, then capped at 20 percent of your TAXABLE income, which for a solo filer taking the standard deduction usually binds first. On our default inputs, naive maths gives $16,000 and the correct deduction is $11,650.
  • The 0.9 percent Additional Medicare Tax starts at $200,000 for a single filer and $250,000 married filing jointly. Those thresholds are statutory and have never been adjusted for inflation. They are the same numbers as in 2013, so each year they quietly reach further down.
  • Quarterly estimated payments are due 15 April 2026, 15 June 2026, 15 September 2026 and 15 January 2027. Note that the last one lands in the following calendar year, which is the date people miss most.

What is sourced here, and the one number that is ours. Every tax rule and every dollar threshold on this page is the IRS's own, for the 2026 tax year, read out of the primary document rather than a summary: the rates and the wage base from Form 1040-ES (2026), the brackets, standard deduction and QBI thresholds from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, the mileage rate from Notice 2026-10. None of it is modelled and none of it is a survey. The single exception is the low end of the range shown above the ledger. Your real bill is almost certainly lower than the headline, because a solo 401(k), self-employed health insurance premiums and a home-office deduction all reduce it and we model none of them. We show that as a flat 10 percent haircut. That 10 percent is ours and it is arbitrary: it is not calculated from anything, and a solo 401(k) alone can save a great deal more. Treat the headline as the top of your likely range, not as a quote.

Sources: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 brackets, standard deduction, QBI) · IRS Form 1040-ES (2026) (SE tax worksheet, wage base, due dates) · IRS Topic no. 554, Self-employment tax · IRS Form 8959 (Additional Medicare Tax) · IRS Notice 2026-10 (2026 standard mileage rate) · IRS Publication 15 (2026) (Social Security wage base)

How this estimate is calculated

  • Every rule here is the IRS's, for the 2026 tax year, taken from the primary document rather than a summary page. We say the year out loud because the same Rev. Proc. also contains the 2025 figures, and a lot of calculators are quietly still running them.
  • Self-employment tax is computed exactly as the Form 1040-ES (2026) worksheet computes it: 92.35 percent of net profit, then 12.4 percent Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base and 2.9 percent Medicare with no cap. If you also have W-2 wages, those fill the wage base first, so your SE tax falls.
  • The QBI deduction assumes you are a sole proprietor filing Schedule C with no employees and no significant depreciable equipment. That means your W-2 wage and property limit is zero, so above the income threshold the deduction phases out to nothing. If you do have employees or a lot of qualified property, you may keep more of it than this calculator shows.
  • Whether your work is a specified service trade or business (an SSTB) changes nothing below the threshold, where everyone gets the full 20 percent. It bites INSIDE the phase-in range, which is roughly $201,750 to $276,750 of taxable income for a single filer and $403,500 to $553,500 filing jointly. In that band an SSTB is cut twice: Schedule A of Form 8995-A first reduces your qualified income to the applicable percentage, and Part III then applies the wage-limit reduction to what is left. That is why we ask. Answering yes can raise the bill by as much as $4,108 for a single filer, $4,236 filing as head of household, or $8,215 filing jointly. The maximum differs by status because the phase-in range and the standard deduction both do, so do not read the single-filer figure as everyone's ceiling. Above the top of the range an SSTB is not a qualified business at all, so it also loses the new $400 minimum deduction that a non-SSTB still keeps, worth about $148 of tax. The IRS catch-all for SSTBs covers fees for endorsements, for licensing your name or likeness, and for appearing on camera, which is most of what a sponsored creator is paid for.
  • The new $400 minimum QBI deduction is applied when you have at least $1,000 of qualified business income, which is also the new eligibility floor: below $1,000 of qualified income the Rev. Proc. says you get no deduction at all. How the $400 interacts with the 20-percent-of-taxable-income cap is genuinely unsettled, because there is no 2026 Form 8995 and no regulations yet. It matters in two narrow places: under about $2,000 of QBI, and for a high earner whose deduction has otherwise phased out to zero, where it is worth $400 of deduction and roughly $148 of tax.
  • If you enter W-2 wages, the result is the extra tax your freelance income causes, not your whole household bill. That is deliberate: it is what you need to set aside, and it assumes your job is already withholding enough to cover the wages themselves. Dividing a whole household tax bill by 1099 income mixes two different things and produces nonsense.
  • Federal only. No state income tax, no city tax, no state business or franchise tax. We would rather leave a gap you can see than fill it with a number we invented.

Frequently asked questions

How much tax do I pay on 1099 income?
On $90,000 of 1099 income with $10,000 of expenses, a single filer owes about $16,648 in federal tax for 2026: roughly $11,304 of self-employment tax and $5,344 of income tax. That is about 21 percent of the $80,000 you actually netted. Self-employment tax is the part that surprises people, because it is bigger than the income tax and there is no employer paying half of it for you.
What is the self-employment tax rate for 2026?
15.3 percent, made up of 12.4 percent for Social Security and 2.9 percent for Medicare. But it does not apply to all of your profit. It applies to 92.35 percent of it, which is the IRS's way of mirroring the deduction an employer gets. The Social Security half stops once your earnings reach $184,500 for 2026; the Medicare half never stops. And half of whatever you pay is deductible against your income tax.
How much should I set aside for taxes as a freelancer?
Use the figure this calculator gives you, divided by four, and add your state's rate on top because this page is federal only. As a rough sanity check, a solo freelancer with ordinary expenses and no state income tax usually lands between 20 and 25 percent of net profit. Setting aside a flat 30 percent is the common advice and it is deliberately conservative, which is not a bad thing when the alternative is an underpayment penalty.
When are quarterly estimated taxes due in 2026?
15 April 2026, 15 June 2026, 15 September 2026, and 15 January 2027. The fourth payment falls in the next calendar year, which is the one people forget. You are required to make estimated payments if you expect to owe at least $1,000 after withholding. You are safe from a penalty if you pay at least 90 percent of your 2026 tax, or 100 percent of your 2025 tax (110 percent if your 2025 income was over $150,000).
Do I still get the 20% QBI deduction in 2026?
Yes. It was made permanent, and for 2026 there is even a new minimum deduction of $400 if you have at least $1,000 of qualified business income. Be careful with the IRS's own newsroom page on this: it still says the deduction applies to tax years ending on or before 31 December 2025, which reads as though it expired. It did not. But the deduction is not simply 20 percent of your profit. It is reduced by the half-of-SE-tax deduction and then capped at 20 percent of your taxable income, and if you are a solo filer with no employees it phases down to the new $400 minimum above roughly $276,750 of taxable income, or to nothing at all if your work is an SSTB.
Does it matter if I am a specified service trade or business (SSTB)?
Mostly in one band, but there it matters a great deal, which is why the calculator asks. Below the threshold, about $201,750 of taxable income for a single filer, an SSTB gets the full 20 percent like everyone else. Inside the phase-in range an SSTB is reduced twice over: Schedule A of Form 8995-A cuts your qualified income to the applicable percentage first, and Part III then applies the wage-limit reduction to what is left. For a freelancer in that band it can mean up to $4,108 more federal tax than a non-SSTB on the same profit if you are single, $4,236 as head of household, or $8,215 filing jointly. Above the top of the range, about $276,750 single, the difference shrinks but does not quite vanish: an SSTB is no longer a qualified business at all, so it loses even the new $400 minimum deduction that a non-SSTB still keeps, which is worth about $148 of tax. The definition matters for creators more than most people realise: alongside consulting, health, law and accounting, the IRS catch-all covers income from endorsing products, from licensing your name, image, voice or likeness, and from appearing at events or on camera. That is a plain description of a sponsored creator. If you are near that income band and paid for any of those, this is the question to take to an accountant.
Do I have to pay self-employment tax on a small amount of 1099 income?
Only if your net earnings from self-employment reach $400. The catch is that the $400 is measured after the 92.35 percent step, so the real threshold is about $433 of net profit. Below that you owe no self-employment tax, though the income still counts for income tax. And note the $400 test is about your profit, not about whether anyone sent you a 1099: income with no form attached is still taxable.
Can I deduct mileage as a freelancer?
Yes, at 72.5 cents a mile for 2026, for miles you drove for work. That is IRS Notice 2026-10. Be careful where you look this up: as of July 2026 the IRS's own standard-mileage-rates index page was still showing the 2025 rate of 70 cents. Commuting from home to a regular workplace does not count. You can claim actual vehicle costs instead, but not both, so pick the one that gives you the bigger deduction and keep the log either way.