1099 tax calculator 2026

What taxes are due on 1099 income?

Self-employment tax

• It is Social Security and Medicare for people who work for themselves: 12.4% plus 2.9%, 15.3% in all, on 92.35% of your net profit.
• Social Security stops at $184,500 of earnings, counting any W-2 wages first. Medicare has no limit, and 0.9% more is owed on earnings over $200,000 ($250,000 married filing jointly), counting W-2 wages first.
• No self-employment tax is due if net earnings are under $400.
• Half of the self-employment tax (not the extra 0.9%) is deducted from your income for income tax.

The QBI deduction (qualified business income)

• 20% of your profit (after the half of self-employment tax) comes off taxable income, but never more than 20% of your taxable income before it. You get it with the standard deduction.
• Above $201,750 of taxable income ($403,500 married filing jointly), the wage and property limits and the rules for specified service businesses (health, law, accounting, consulting, financial services, performing arts, athletics and others) apply, in full from $276,750 ($553,500). We assume the business pays no W-2 wages and owns no business property, as most 1099 work does.
• New for 2026: with at least $1,000 of qualified business income from a business you actively run, the deduction is at least $400.

Quarterly estimated tax

• You generally pay estimated tax if you expect to owe $1,000 or more after withholding. For 2026 the four payments are due April 15, 2026, June 15, 2026, September 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027.
• To avoid a penalty, pay at least 90% of this year’s tax or 100% of last year’s (110% if last year’s adjusted gross income was over $150,000), whichever is smaller.
• With a W-2 job too, you can instead ask your employer to take more tax out of your pay (a new Form W-4).

A worked example, by hand

Set aside about 19.2% of each 1099 payment. A single worker in Texas with a $45,000 W-2 job and $18,000 of 1099 income ($3,000 of expenses) owes about $3,457.70 more tax for 2026: $2,119.43 of self-employment tax and $1,338.27 of federal income tax (Texas has no income tax). That is $864.42 a quarter to the IRS.

1. Profit: $18,000 of income less $3,000 of expenses = $15,000.00.
2. Net earnings: 92.35% × $15,000.00 = $13,852.50.
3. Self-employment tax: Social Security 12.4% × $13,852.50 = $1,717.71 (the $45,000 job already used that much of the $184,500 wage base, leaving $139,500), plus Medicare 2.9% × $13,852.50 = $401.72. Total $2,119.43.
4. Half of it is deducted: $1,059.72. Adjusted gross income $45,000 + $15,000.00 − $1,059.72 = $58,940.28.
5. QBI deduction: after the $16,100 standard deduction, $42,840.28 is left. 20% of qualified business income ($13,940.28) is $2,788.06; 20% of $42,840.28 is $8,568.06. The smaller, $2,788.06, comes off: taxable income $40,052.23.
6. Federal income tax: 10% × $12,400.00 + 12% × $27,652.23 = $4,558.27. The job alone would owe $3,220.00 (its withholding covers that), so the 1099 income adds $1,338.27.
7. Texas tax: none. Texas has no income tax.
8. Total: $3,457.70, or 19.2% of the $18,000 you were paid. Paid to the IRS in four parts: $864.42 by each of April 15, 2026, June 15, 2026, September 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027.

The result panel above starts on this example, line by line.

What about state tax on self-employment income?

Every state with an income tax taxes self-employment income. The calculator runs the same state engine as our paycheck calculator on your adjusted gross income, for all 50 states and DC, with Maryland and Indiana county tax and New York City’s tax.

• State paid leave, disability and unemployment contributions, and California SDI, come out of employees’ pay. None is charged on your self-employment income here; if you have a W-2 job, they stay on your wages.
• Colorado, Iowa and North Dakota start from federal taxable income, so the federal QBI deduction lowers their tax too, and we take it off first. Montana adds it back.
• Everywhere else, it is the state’s tax on the same income as the federal return: an estimate. Local business taxes are not included.

In the example, Texas: Texas has no income tax on this income.

What does this estimate leave out?

• It is an estimate, not tax advice and not a filed return.
• The self-employed health insurance deduction and retirement plans (SEP, solo 401(k)), which lower income tax but not self-employment tax.
• Credits (the earned income credit, the child tax credit and others), itemized deductions, investment income and any other income besides the business and one W-2 job.
• A loss: if your expenses are more than your income, we show no tax, but a loss can also lower the tax on other income.
• A spouse’s own self-employment income: on a joint return each spouse pays self-employment tax on their own net earnings. Enter one person’s business.
• Above the QBI threshold, a business that pays W-2 wages or owns business property (it can get a bigger deduction); we assume neither.
• Local taxes on business income (city taxes in Ohio and Pennsylvania, New York City’s tax on unincorporated businesses and others), and state estimated tax dates.