How self-employment tax works for creators

If you earn from content – platform payouts, brand deals, tips, freelance gigs – you owe a tax most employees have never heard of.

The one-sentence version

Self-employment (SE) tax is a 15.3% tax on your net business profit covering Social Security and Medicare – the same taxes a job takes out, except you pay both the employee and employer halves yourself.

How it is calculated

• 12.4% Social Security, on earnings up to $184,500 in 2026.
• 2.9% Medicare, with no cap (an extra 0.9% applies to high earners).
• You pay it on 92.35% of your net profit, not 100%.

Profit, not revenue

SE tax is calculated on net profit – gross income minus business expenses. Every legitimate write-off lowers your profit, which lowers both your SE tax and income tax.

A worked example (2026)

Single, $70,000 earned, $10,000 expenses gives $60,000 net profit. SE tax is about $8,478; federal income tax about $3,560; total to set aside about $12,037 (around 20% of profit).

General education, not tax advice.