Paycheck Calculator 2026 - Take Home Pay Calculator by State

Estimate self employment tax and your quarterly payments as a freelancer or gig worker.

Set aside from every payment

0%

Enter your 1099 income below. This is the share of each client payment to move straight into a separate tax account.

Your self employed income

Annual figures. Estimate the whole year even if you are only part way through it.

1099 or business gross income

$

Everything clients paid you, before any expenses.

Deductible business expenses

$

Mileage, software, phone, home office, supplies, platform fees.

Filing status

Single Married filing jointly Married filing separately Head of household

State

Children under 17

$2,200 each

QBI deduction

Claim it, up to 20 percent Do not claim it

Most sole proprietors and single member LLCs qualify.

Quick presets

Typical expense ratios for common gig and freelance work. Tap one to load it, then adjust.

Do you also have a W-2 job, or a working spouse

Tax already withheld from a W-2 job counts toward your total for the year, so entering it cuts the quarterly payment you actually need to send. Skipping this is the single biggest reason freelancers overpay estimated tax.

W-2 wages, yours plus spouse

$

Federal tax already withheld from those wages

$

Box 2 of the W-2, or year to date on a paystub scaled up.

State tax already withheld

$

Estimated tax you have already paid this year

$

Safe harbor, so you never owe a penalty

The IRS will not charge an underpayment penalty if you pay the smaller of 90 percent of this year's tax or 100 percent of last year's total tax, rising to 110 percent if last year's income was above $150,000. Fill these in and the calculator picks the cheaper legal target.

Last year's total federal tax

$

Line 24 of your prior year Form 1040.

Last year's adjusted gross income

$

Above $150,000 pushes the safe harbor to 110 percent.

Other deductions freelancers forget

Business miles driven this year

miles

Added to your expenses at the IRS standard rate.

IRS standard mileage rate

$ per mile

Check the current year rate on irs.gov and update if it has changed.

Home office square feet

sq ft

Simplified method, $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet.

Self employed health insurance premiums

$

An above the line deduction. Reduces income tax but not SE tax.

SEP IRA or solo 401k contribution

$

Reduces income tax but not SE tax.

Your 2026 estimate

Quarterly payment schedule

What this 1099 tax calculator does

If you are paid on a 1099-NEC or a 1099-K instead of a W-2, nobody withholds tax for you. You are responsible for sending it to the IRS yourself four times a year, and you pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare, the employee half and the half an employer would normally cover.

This self employment tax calculator works out what you actually owe as a freelancer, independent contractor or gig worker, then turns it into the two numbers you can use straight away. The percentage to hold back from every client payment, and the amount to send the IRS each quarter.

What it calculates

• Self employment tax at 15.3 percent on 92.35 percent of your net profit, split into 12.4 percent Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base and 2.9 percent Medicare with no cap
• The deductible half of that SE tax, which lowers your income tax
• The QBI deduction, worth up to 20 percent of qualified business income
• Federal income tax using the 2026 brackets and standard deduction
• State income tax for all 50 states and Washington DC
• Credit for tax already withheld from a W-2 job, yours or your spouse's
• Mileage, home office, health insurance and retirement deductions
• Safe harbor comparison so you pay the smallest legal amount and still avoid the penalty

Who this is for

• Rideshare and delivery drivers. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, Amazon Flex, Grubhub. Mileage is almost always your largest deduction and most drivers understate it badly.
• Freelancers and consultants paid through Upwork, Fiverr, direct invoices or retainers.
• Creators and sellers with 1099-K income from Etsy, eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Patreon, Substack or Twitch.
• Trades and service businesses operating as a sole proprietor or single member LLC.
• Anyone with a side hustle on top of a W-2 job, which is the group most likely to be surprised in April.
• Anyone deciding between a W-2 offer and a 1099 contract at the same headline rate, which are not remotely the same thing after tax.

Why the first 1099 tax bill catches people out

A W-2 employee earning $80,000 pays 7.65 percent in FICA. A freelancer with $80,000 of net profit pays 15.3 percent, because there is no employer to split it with. That extra 7.65 percent is roughly $6,100 a year, and it lands on top of ordinary income tax rather than instead of it.

Three things soften the blow and this calculator applies all of them.

1. Only 92.35 percent of your net profit is subject to SE tax, not the full amount.
2. Half your SE tax is deductible against income tax.
3. The QBI deduction takes up to 20 percent off your business income before income tax is worked out. It is the largest break available to sole proprietors and it is the one people most often forget to factor in.

Expenses are where the real money is

Every dollar of legitimate business expense saves you your marginal income tax rate plus 15.3 percent SE tax. For someone in the 22 percent bracket that is roughly 37 cents saved for every dollar spent. The deductions people leave on the table most often:

• Business mileage at the IRS standard rate. For a delivery or rideshare driver this is usually the single biggest number on the return.
• Home office, either the simplified rate per square foot or actual expenses.
• The business share of your phone and internet.
• Health insurance premiums as a self employed health insurance deduction.
• Half of business meals.
• Platform and payment processing fees. These are often netted out of your payouts but still appear in your 1099-K gross, so you must deduct them or you pay tax on money you never received.
• Software, subscriptions, equipment, tools and training.
• SEP IRA or solo 401k contributions, which for a good year can shelter a very large amount.

2026 quarterly tax due dates

Quarter	Income period	Payment due
Q1	January 1 to March 31	April 15, 2026
Q2	April 1 to May 31	June 15, 2026
Q3	June 1 to August 31	September 15, 2026
Q4	September 1 to December 31	January 15, 2027

Notice the quarters are not equal. Q2 covers two months and Q3 covers three. An equal quarters schedule still works, but naively dividing by four each calendar quarter can leave you short. If a due date falls on a weekend or a federal holiday it moves to the next business day.

Safe harbor, or how to never pay a penalty

You are protected from the underpayment penalty if your payments for the year total at least the smaller of these two amounts.

• 90 percent of this year's total tax
• 100 percent of last year's total tax, rising to 110 percent if last year's adjusted gross income was above $150,000

The prior year route is the practical one for anyone whose income moves around. If you made $60,000 last year and $150,000 this year, paying 100 percent of last year's tax keeps you penalty free even though you will owe a lot more in April. Enter last year's figures above and the calculator tells you which target is cheaper.

There is also a de minimis rule. If you end up owing less than $1,000 after withholding and credits, there is no penalty at all.

The withholding shortcut nobody mentions

If you or your spouse also has a W-2 job, you can skip quarterly payments entirely by raising the withholding on that job using Form W-4 Step 4c. Withholding counts as paid evenly across the whole year no matter when it actually happens, which means a December adjustment can still fix an underpayment from January. Estimated payments do not get that treatment, so a late estimated payment cannot undo an early shortfall.

How to use this calculator properly

1. Estimate the full year, not year to date. If you have earned $30,000 in five months, put in roughly $72,000 as the annual figure.
2. Be realistic about expenses. Understating them makes you overpay all year. Overstating them creates an April surprise.
3. Enter W-2 withholding if you have any. This is the most common way freelancers massively overpay estimated tax.
4. Use the set aside percentage day to day. When a client pays $5,000, move that percentage into a separate savings account immediately. Far more reliable than trying to find the money four times a year.
5. Rerun it every quarter. Freelance income is lumpy, so update it in June and again in September.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I set aside for taxes as a 1099 contractor?

The common advice of 25 to 30 percent is only a rough average. In reality it ranges from about 15 percent for a lower earner in a state with no income tax to over 45 percent for a high earner in California. The percentage at the top of this page is worked out from your own numbers, which is far more useful than a rule of thumb.

How do I calculate self employment tax?

Take your net profit, which is gross income minus business expenses, multiply it by 92.35 percent, then apply 15.3 percent to the result. The 15.3 percent splits into 12.4 percent Social Security, which stops above $184,500 of net earnings in 2026, and 2.9 percent Medicare, which has no ceiling. Half of the total is then deductible against your income tax.

Do I have to pay quarterly taxes or can I just pay in April?

You can pay it all in April but you will owe an underpayment penalty, charged as interest on the amount you should have paid each quarter. The only exceptions are if you owe under $1,000 after credits, or you had no tax liability at all in the prior year. The penalty is not huge but it is pure waste.

What happens if I miss a quarterly tax payment?

You are charged interest on the shortfall from the date it was due until you pay it. Nothing dramatic happens immediately and there is no separate late filing penalty on estimated payments. Pay as soon as you realise, because the charge accrues daily. If you have a W-2 job, raising withholding there can also cure it.

Does the QBI deduction apply to me?

For most sole proprietors, single member LLCs and partnerships, yes, up to 20 percent of qualified business income. It gets restricted for specified service businesses such as consulting, law, accounting and health once your taxable income passes the threshold, and wage and property limits apply at higher incomes. If that is you, set QBI to not claimed for a conservative estimate and speak to a CPA.

Do Uber, DoorDash and Instacart earnings count as self employment income?

Yes. Any income on a 1099-NEC or 1099-K, and in fact any self employed income even where no form was issued, is business income. Platform commissions and fees are deductible, and for driving work mileage is normally the largest deduction by a wide margin. Track every mile including between deliveries, not just while a passenger or order is in the car.

How much can I earn on a 1099 before I owe tax?

Self employment tax kicks in once your net earnings reach $400, which is a much lower threshold than people expect. Income tax depends on your total income and the standard deduction, which is $16,100 for a single filer in 2026, so you can often have several thousand dollars of profit with no income tax but still owe SE tax.

Is 1099 income taxed higher than W-2 income?

Effectively yes, at the same gross figure, because you pay both halves of FICA rather than one. That is why a $60 per hour 1099 contract is not equivalent to a $60 per hour W-2 job. You also lose employer benefits, paid leave and unemployment cover. As a rough guide a 1099 rate needs to be somewhere around 25 to 40 percent higher to match a W-2 offer, depending on the benefits involved.

Can I deduct mileage and my home office at the same time?

Yes, they are separate deductions and both are allowed if you genuinely qualify. Mileage covers business driving at the IRS standard rate. The home office deduction needs a space used regularly and exclusively for business, and the simplified method pays $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet. Having a home office can also make more of your driving deductible.

Do I need an LLC to deduct business expenses?

No. A sole proprietor deducts exactly the same expenses on Schedule C without any registration. An LLC provides liability protection and can change how you are taxed if you elect S corporation treatment, but it does not by itself unlock any extra deductions.

How do I actually send a quarterly tax payment?

The simplest route is IRS Direct Pay on irs.gov, choosing Estimated Tax and the correct tax year. You can also use EFTPS, the IRS2Go app, or post Form 1040-ES with a cheque. State estimated payments go to your own state revenue department and are a completely separate transaction.

What if my income is very unpredictable?

Two good options. Use the prior year safe harbor, which fixes your payments at a known amount regardless of what this year does. Or use the annualised income instalment method on Form 2210, which lets you pay in proportion to when you actually earned the money. The second is more work but better if your income is heavily weighted to the end of the year.

Do I pay state estimated tax as well?

In most states yes, and it is a separate payment to your state revenue department with its own form and sometimes different due dates. Nine states have no income tax on earned income, so if you are in one of those you only send federal payments. Check whether your state also has a business or franchise tax on top.

Is my income information saved or sent anywhere?

No. Every calculation runs inside your own browser using JavaScript. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored on a server or shared with anyone. Closing the page clears it.

How accurate is this 1099 tax calculator?

It uses the published 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction, the Social Security wage base, the standard SE tax formula and each state's own 2026 rate schedule, so it is close for a typical sole proprietor. It does not model the alternative minimum tax, net investment income tax, QBI wage and property limits, city income tax, or S corporation salary planning.

Other ways people look for this tool

Whether you came here searching for a self employment tax calculator, a quarterly tax calculator or just wanted to know how much to set aside from a 1099 payment, this is the same tool. Here is what it covers.

Estimates only, based on 2026 federal brackets, the Social Security self employment wage base and each state's published 2026 rate schedule. It does not model the alternative minimum tax, net investment income tax, QBI wage and property limits, city or county income tax, or state business taxes such as the Texas franchise tax or the Washington business and occupation tax. This is not tax advice. Tax year 2026.