How the 1099 tax calculator works
When you work for yourself, you pay two federal taxes on your profit: self-employment tax, which is Social Security and Medicare, and income tax. The calculator figures both the way the IRS forms do.
- Profit (Schedule C): what you were paid minus business expenses. Car costs use the IRS standard mileage rate: 72.5 cents a mile for January to June 2026 and 76 cents from July 1, 2026 (70 cents for 2025).
- Self-employment tax (Schedule SE): profit × 92.35%, then 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. Social Security stops at $184,500 for 2026 ($176,100 for 2025), counting your W-2 wages first. If 92.35% of your profit is under $400, there's none.
- Additional Medicare Tax (Form 8959): 0.9% on wages and self-employment income above $200,000 ($250,000 married filing jointly, $125,000 married filing separately). Wages use up that amount first.
- Income tax (Form 1040): your total income minus half of the self-employment tax, minus the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint, $24,150 head of household for 2026), minus the qualified business income (QBI) deduction, then the tax brackets.
- How much to set aside: the federal tax your 1099 work adds, divided by what you were paid. With a W-2 job too, the tax on the job is left out, because your employer already withholds for it.
A delivery driver, single, 2026: $32,000 paid through the apps, 9,000 business miles, no other job.
Car: 4,500 miles × 72.5¢ + 4,500 miles × 76¢ = $6,682.50. Profit: $32,000 − $6,682.50 = $25,317.50.
Self-employment tax: $25,317.50 × 92.35% = $23,380.71, × 15.3% = $3,577.25.
Income tax: $25,317.50 − $1,788.62 (half of the self-employment tax) − $16,100 standard deduction = $7,428.88. QBI deduction: 20% of that, $1,485.78. Taxable income $5,943.10, tax at 10%: $594.31.
Total: $4,171.56, about 13% of the $32,000. Four payments of $1,042.89.
The QBI deduction
The qualified business income deduction lets most self-employed people deduct up to 20% of their business profit, after taking off half of the self-employment tax. It can't be more than 20% of taxable income figured before it. From 2026, anyone with at least $1,000 of profit from a business they actively work in gets at least $400. It lowers income tax only, not self-employment tax.
The calculator figures it when taxable income before the deduction is at or under $201,750 for 2026 ($403,500 married filing jointly, $201,775 married filing separately; $197,300 and $394,600 for 2025). Above that, it shrinks across a phase-in range of $75,000 ($150,000 married filing jointly; $50,000 and $100,000 for 2025) and depends on the wages you pay and the property your business owns. The calculator assumes you have no employees and no business property, like most gig workers and freelancers, and follows Form 8995-A: the 20% shrinks by the share of the range you're into, and is gone above it (except the $400 minimum). For a specified service business, such as health, law, accounting or consulting, it shrinks faster: only part of the profit counts (Schedule A of Form 8995-A), and then the same cut applies. If you pay employees or own business property, your deduction can be larger; see Form 8995-A. The calculator also assumes you have no capital gains, which would lower the limit.
DoorDash, Uber, Instacart and other gig apps
If you drive or deliver through an app as an independent contractor, the IRS treats it as self-employment, even as a side job. The same rules apply whatever the app:
- File if you made $400 or more. You must file a tax return if your net earnings from self-employment from gig work are $400 or more. You report the work on Schedule C and Schedule SE with your Form 1040.
- All income counts, form or not. Apps may send a Form 1099-NEC, 1099-K or 1099-MISC by January 31. From 2026, a 1099-NEC is generally required once a company pays you $2,000 or more (it was $600), and a payment app sends a 1099-K above $20,000 and 200 transactions. You still report every dollar, including payments with no form, cash and tips paid in the app.
- Mileage or actual costs. For your car you can use the standard mileage rate or your actual costs (gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration and depreciation or lease payments, times the business share of your miles). Parking fees and tolls for the work count either way. To use the mileage rate on a car you own, you have to choose it in the first year you use the car for the work; on a leased car you must keep it for the whole lease.
- Keep records. A mileage log and receipts back up what you deduct. The law requires records for car expenses.
- Tips. Tips from customers are income. They may also qualify for the no tax on tips deduction, up to your profit from the work. That deduction lowers income tax, not self-employment tax, and isn't included in this calculator.
- Also have a job? You can skip quarterly payments by having more tax withheld from your paycheck: give your employer a new Form W-4 with an extra amount in Step 4(c).
Quarterly estimated tax payments for 2026
In most cases you must pay estimated tax if you expect to owe at least $1,000 when you file, after withholding and refundable credits, and your withholding and credits will be less than the smaller of 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax (110% if your 2025 adjusted gross income was over $150,000, or $75,000 married filing separately). You can pay it all by April 15 or in four equal parts:
| Payment | For income earned | Due |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | January 1 to March 31 | April 15, 2026 |
| 2nd | April 1 to May 31 | June 15, 2026 |
| 3rd | June 1 to August 31 | September 15, 2026 |
| 4th | September 1 to December 31 | January 15, 2027 |
You can skip the January 15, 2027 payment if you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay everything you owe with it. When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the payment is due the next business day; all four 2026 dates are weekdays. For 2025 the dates were April 15, June 16 (June 15 was a Sunday), September 15, 2025 and January 15, 2026. Pay online through your IRS Online Account, or by mail with the vouchers in Form 1040-ES.
Paid late or too little? You may owe a penalty for underpaying, figured on Form 2210, even if you get a refund. If your income comes in unevenly, such as a busy summer, the annualized installment method on Form 2210 can lower or remove it.
What the calculator leaves out
- State and local income tax. Most states tax self-employment profit too; nine states don't tax wages. See states with no income tax.
- Credits, such as the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit. They can lower what you owe or raise your refund. Self-employment tax still applies.
- Other deductions: self-employed health insurance, retirement plan contributions, the no tax on tips and overtime deductions, the senior deduction and itemized deductions.
- A spouse's own self-employment income (each spouse files a separate Schedule SE), farm income, church employee income and the optional methods on Schedule SE.
- Your W-2 box 1. The calculator uses box 5 (Medicare wages) for income tax too. If you put money in a 401(k), box 1 is lower and your real income tax a bit lower.
Common questions
How much should I set aside for taxes on 1099 income?
Enough for self-employment tax, which is about 14.1% of your profit (15.3% of 92.35% of it), plus federal income tax. For a single driver paid $32,000 in 2026 who drove 9,000 business miles and has no other job, that comes to about 13% of each payment, $4,172 for the year. State income tax is extra in most states.
What is the self-employment tax rate for 2026?
15.3% of 92.35% of your net profit: 12.4% for Social Security on up to $184,500 of wages and self-employment earnings combined, and 2.9% for Medicare on all of it. Above $200,000 ($250,000 married filing jointly, $125,000 married filing separately), an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies.
Do I pay self-employment tax if I made less than $400?
No. If 92.35% of your profit is under $400, which means a profit of about $433 or less, there's no self-employment tax. The income still counts toward income tax.
Can I deduct mileage for DoorDash, Uber or Instacart?
Yes, if you work as an independent contractor. Use either the standard mileage rate (72.5 cents a mile from January to June 2026 and 76 cents from July 1) or your actual car costs for the business share, not both. Parking fees and tolls for the work can be deducted either way. Keep a mileage log.
When are quarterly estimated taxes due for 2026?
April 15, 2026, June 15, 2026, September 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027. You can skip the January payment if you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the whole balance with it.
Do I have to pay quarterly taxes if I also have a W-2 job?
Not if your employer withholds enough. Instead of estimated payments, you can give your employer a new Form W-4 asking for extra tax to be taken out of each paycheck. In most cases you must pay estimated tax only if you expect to owe at least $1,000 when you file, after withholding and refundable credits.
More tools: the W-4 calculator for paychecks, the hourly to salary calculator and the tax refund calculator.
Updated November 7, 2026. Sources: Schedule SE (Form 1040) 2026, lines 3 to 13; IRS Form 1040-ES (2026), dated February 12, 2026 (2026 Social Security wage base, estimated tax rules and payment dates) and Form 1040-ES (2025); Form 8959 (2026 draft), May 27, 2026, Additional Medicare Tax; Form 8995 (2026 draft), May 1, 2026, and Form 8995 instructions (2026 draft), June 17, 2026; Form 8995-A (2026 draft), May 26, 2026, Part III (phase-in range); 2025 Instructions for Form 8995-A; Internal Revenue Code §199A; IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §4.26 and IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40 §3.27 (QBI thresholds); IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §4.14 (2026 standard deduction); IRS news release IR-2025-128 (December 29, 2025) and IRS Announcement 2026-11 (Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29, July 13, 2026), 2026 mileage rates; IRS news release IR-2024-312 (2025 mileage rate); IRS Topic no. 510, Business use of car; IRS Gig Economy Tax Center and "Manage taxes for your gig work"; IRS "Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes)"; IRS "Estimated taxes"; IRS Topic no. 306, Penalty for underpayment of estimated tax; Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (2026 threshold of $2,000).