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Gross income isn't pay. Out of it come your business expenses, the 15.3% self-employment tax, and income tax — and what's left is what you really keep. This walks the whole waterfall, from the top line to the money in your pocket, with every number shown.
Nothing you type leaves your browser. This is an estimate, not tax advice — confirm your numbers with a CPA or enrolled agent.
The number a client pays you and the number you actually live on are two very different things — and the gap surprises almost every new freelancer. There's no employer quietly withholding tax from each payment, so the full bill lands on you at once. Three things come out of your top line before you reach real take-home pay: your business expenses, your self-employment tax, and your income tax. This calculator walks all three in order, so the headline figure is money you can genuinely count on.
The first subtraction is expenses. Software subscriptions, equipment, fees, a home-office or mileage deduction — these are the costs of running the business, and what's left after them is your net profit (the figure on your Schedule C). Every tax below is calculated on that profit, not on your gross, which is exactly why tracking deductions pays off twice: once as a smaller tax bill, once as a clearer picture of what you keep.
Self-employment tax and income tax are different bills, and lumping them into one "set aside 30%" rule is how people end up short. The self-employment tax is the 15.3% that covers both halves of Social Security and Medicare — it's charged on 92.35% of your profit, with the Social Security portion capped at the annual wage base and a deductible employer-equivalent half that lowers your income-tax base. This tool computes it exactly, using the same engine as our Self-Employment Tax Calculator.
The income tax is the one we don't guess. Your real rate depends on your bracket, your deductions, your filing status, and any other household income — so instead of pretending to know it, the calculator asks for your combined federal + state rate and applies it after the deductible half of SE tax comes out. Set it to your own number and the take-home figure becomes genuinely yours. Leave it at zero and you'll see take-home before income tax, which is useful for isolating the self-employment bite.
It depends on your expenses and tax rate, but a common range is roughly 60–75% of net profit after self-employment tax and income tax. This calculator gives you the exact figure: enter your gross income, your expenses, and your combined income-tax rate, and it walks the full waterfall down to take-home pay.
Two main ones. Self-employment tax (15.3% for Social Security and Medicare, on 92.35% of your profit) and federal — and usually state — income tax. Because no employer withholds either, you're expected to send them in as quarterly estimated payments. This tool separates the two so you can see each clearly.
On net profit — your gross income minus deductible business expenses. Both your self-employment tax and your income tax are charged on profit, not on the total your clients paid. That's why tracking deductions matters: every legitimate expense lowers the profit your taxes are calculated on.
Because your real income-tax rate isn't knowable from your freelance income alone — it depends on your tax bracket, standard or itemized deductions, filing status, and any other household income. Rather than guess a bracket, we compute the self-employment tax precisely and let you supply your own combined federal + state rate for the income-tax piece.
Yes. Half of your self-employment tax (the employer-equivalent portion) is deductible against income tax, so the calculator subtracts it from your profit before applying your income-tax rate. You can see that step in the second ledger, labelled "deductible half."
No. Every calculation runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent to a server or stored. The link in your address bar updates so you can bookmark or share a scenario, but it only contains the numbers you chose.
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The 15.3% SE tax on your profit, the deductible half, and your quarterly set-aside.
Work backward from the take-home you want to the hourly rate you need to charge.
See what a salary really equals as a freelance rate — and the reverse.