Free tool · tax year 2026
1099 tax calculator for 2026
Enter what you expect to earn from your business this year and see your quarterly estimated tax payment: what to pay the IRS by the next due date. It uses the 2026 federal brackets, self-employment tax, the QBI deduction and the safe-harbor rules. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Worksheet · tax year 2026
Income minus business expenses for the whole year: Schedule C line 31.
Form 1040, line 24. It unlocks the prior-year safe harbor, which is often the cheaper option.
A quarter of the safe-harbor amount. Pay this on each due date and the IRS can’t charge an underpayment penalty.
- Projected 2026 federal tax
- $13,881
- Self-employment tax
- $9,608
- Income tax
- $4,273
- Safe harbor: 90% of 2026 tax
- $12,493
- Set aside from each dollar of profit
- 20.4%
- Your top federal bracket
- 12%
2026 schedule
- Q1 · April 15, 2026$3,123
- Q2 · June 15, 2026$3,123
- Q3 · September 15, 2026$3,123
- Q4 · January 15, 2027$3,123
Don’t know your profit yet? The Paid & Filed workbook works it out from your bank transactions, projects the full year, and keeps this number current every time you paste.
Get the workbook · $29How the calculator works
- Self-employment tax. 15.3% on 92.35% of your profit: 12.4% for Social Security, up to the $184,500 wage base less any W-2 wages, and 2.9% for Medicare. Nothing is due if that comes to under $400 of earnings.
- Adjusted gross income. Your profit and wages, minus half of the self-employment tax.
- Deductions. The 2026 standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household), then the qualified business income (QBI) deduction of up to 20% of your business profit.
- Income tax. The 2026 brackets for your filing status, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax above $200,000 ($250,000 jointly).
- Safe harbor. To avoid the underpayment penalty, you need to pay the smaller of 90% of this year’s tax or 100% of last year’s (110% if last year’s AGI was over $150,000). The calculator splits that into four equal payments and counts W-2 withholding as paid evenly through the year.
What it leaves out
This is a quick estimate, so it assumes the standard deduction and no tax credits. It doesn’t include state tax, capital gains, self-employed health insurance or retirement contributions, all of which change the answer. Above $201,750 of taxable income ($403,500 jointly) it phases out the QBI deduction as for a business with no employees. The workbook handles credits, health insurance, retirement contributions and the specified-service rules, and it fills in your profit from your own transactions.
New to this? Start with when quarterly taxes are due and how much to set aside. When you’re ready to pay, here’s how to pay estimated taxes online. If you drive for work, the 2026 mileage rate changed on July 1, and every figure the calculator uses is on the tax numbers page.
For websites, blogs and classes
Put this calculator on your site.
Free for any website, blog, newsletter page, course or library guide. Copy the code and paste it into an HTML or embed block (in WordPress, a Custom HTML block). We update it when the IRS publishes new figures, and the copy on your page updates with it. It runs in your reader’s browser and sets no cookies.
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