Free tool

2026 self-employment tax calculator for resellers

Enter a year of reselling figures. The calculator works them down to net profit the way Schedule C does, figures self-employment tax on the Schedule SE lines with 2026 numbers, and sizes a set-aside for federal tax, plus state if you enter a rate. Every result is an estimate, not a tax return.

How does this self-employment tax calculator work?

The calculator follows the forms. It works gross receipts down to net profit in the order Schedule C uses: returns, cost of goods sold, then expenses. It then runs Schedule SE Part I: profit times 92.35% (line 4a), the $400 test (line 4c), 12.4% up to the Social Security wage base less your W-2 wages (line 10), 2.9% on all of it (line 11), and half the total as a deduction (line 13).

Income tax is estimated as your bracket times profit minus half the self-employment tax, shown with and without a full 20% qualified business income deduction. State tax, if you enter a rate, uses the same base. Nothing you type leaves your browser. The quarterly taxes page has the 2026 due dates for paying it.

How much self-employment tax is due on $10,000 of profit?

About $1,413 for tax year 2026, if you have no W-2 wages. Worked example, not real data: $10,000 of net profit times 92.35% is $9,235 (Schedule SE, line 4a). Social Security at 12.4% of that is $1,145 (line 10) and Medicare at 2.9% is $268 (line 11), so self-employment tax is $1,413 (line 12). Half of it, $706, is deductible (line 13, carried to Schedule 1). Income tax comes on top of that, at your bracket.

Which 2026 rates and wage base does it use?

The calculator uses seven figures for tax year 2026, each from an IRS document: the 15.3% self-employment tax rate, the 92.35% share of profit it applies to and the $400 floor, the $184,500 Social Security wage base, the two 2026 mileage rates, the 2026 brackets and the 20% QBI rate. The table gives the source for each.

Which 2026 tax bracket are you in?

Your 2026 federal bracket depends on taxable income, meaning income after deductions such as the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 single or $32,200 married filing jointly (IRS, IR-2025-103). Pick the bracket your last dollar of profit lands in. If your profit straddles two brackets, the calculator's single rate will run a little high or low.

What does the calculator leave out?

The calculator leaves out anything that needs your whole return to work out: the Additional Medicare Tax, the income limits on the QBI deduction, profit that spans two brackets, other income and credits, state rules beyond a flat rate, and whether you've already met the estimated tax safe harbor. The specifics:

• The 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on 2026 earnings over $200,000 single or $250,000 joint (IRS).
• The limits on the QBI deduction at higher incomes; the QBI line assumes the full 20% applies.
• Profit that spans two brackets, other income, credits and state rules beyond a flat rate.
• How a loss is treated, and whether you already paid enough to meet the estimated tax safe harbor.

Which inputs are worth getting right?

Three inputs move the result more than the rest: cost of goods sold, gross receipts and mileage. Each has an easy mistake, and each mistake skews the estimate: counting unsold stock as cost of goods sold, entering payouts instead of gross receipts, and using one mileage rate for all of 2026.

Cost of goods sold

Enter the cost of items that sold during the year, not everything you spent on inventory. Stock you bought and still hold doesn't belong here. It's an easy error to make in reseller accounts, and it's explained here.

Gross receipts

Enter everything buyers paid you, including shipping, not your payouts after fees. Fees come out further down. Entering payouts would hide your fee deduction and give a figure that won't reconcile to the 1099-K you receive.

Mileage

The IRS changed the 2026 business rate on July 1, so enter the miles for each half of the year separately. Deductions resellers miss covers what a mileage log needs.