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Self-Employment Tax Calculator for Georgia construction owners.
If you own a construction company as a sole proprietor, a single-member LLC or a partner, nobody withholds Social Security and Medicare from your profit. You pay both halves yourself through self-employment tax. Enter your business profit below and you'll see the tax line by line, using the 2026 figures published by the IRS and the Social Security Administration, with an optional Georgia income tax estimate on top.
Short answer
Self-employment tax is 15.3% of 92.35% of your net earnings: 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. The Social Security part stops once your wages plus self-employment earnings reach the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Medicare has no cap, and an extra 0.9% applies above $200,000 ($250,000 married filing jointly, $125,000 married filing separately). You can deduct half of the self-employment tax when figuring adjusted gross income. On $150,000 of profit, a single owner with no other wages owes about $21,194.
What does self-employment tax actually cover?
Self-employment tax is Social Security and Medicare for people who work for themselves. An employee splits these with the employer, and the employee's share comes out of each paycheck. As the owner of a construction company taxed as a sole proprietorship or a partnership, you're both sides of that arrangement, so the full 15.3% lands on your return through Schedule SE. It's separate from income tax and it's owed even in a year when deductions wipe out most of your income tax.
The IRS says you usually owe it once your net earnings from self-employment reach $400. For most contractors that's never in question. The real question is how big the bill gets as the company grows, and that's what this calculator answers.
Who is this calculator built for?
It's built for owners of construction companies doing roughly $1 million to $5 million a year whose profit flows straight to their personal return:
- Sole proprietors filing Schedule C, including subcontractors paid on 1099s by general contractors.
- Single-member LLC owners. The IRS treats an owner of a single-member LLC that hasn't elected corporate treatment as subject to self-employment tax in the same manner as a sole proprietorship.
- Partners, including members of an LLC taxed as a partnership. Your number is on Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 14, code A. Under the Schedule SE instructions, limited partners count only guaranteed payments for services they actually performed.
If your company is already an S corporation, this calculator doesn't apply to your salary. Payroll taxes on your W-2 wages are withheld through payroll instead. More on that below.
How is the math done, line by line?
The calculator follows the same order as Schedule SE and Form 8959. Here's a single owner with $250,000 of profit and no other wages, which crosses both the Social Security cap and the Additional Medicare threshold:
| Step | Amount |
|---|
| Net business profit | $250,000.00 |
| Net earnings from self-employment (profit × 92.35%) | $230,875.00 |
| Social Security: 12.4% × $184,500 (capped at the 2026 wage base) | $22,878.00 |
| Medicare: 2.9% × $230,875 (no cap) | $6,695.38 |
| Self-employment tax on Schedule SE | $29,573.38 |
| Additional Medicare Tax: 0.9% × ($230,875 − $200,000), on Form 8959 | $277.88 |
| Total Social Security and Medicare owed | $29,851.26 |
| Deduction for half of self-employment tax ($29,573.38 ÷ 2) | $14,786.69 |
Two details make the math work. First, the 92.35% step: the IRS generally applies self-employment tax to 92.35% of your net earnings, not the full profit. Second, the Social Security cap is shared. The IRS applies it to your combined wages and self-employment earnings, so if you also drew $60,000 of W-2 wages somewhere, only $124,500 of room is left under the 2026 base.
How does the bill change as profit grows?
Here's the same calculation at four profit levels for a single owner with no other wages. Notice that the effective rate drops above the wage base, then the 0.9% kicks back in past $200,000 of net earnings.
| Net profit | Social Security | Medicare + Additional | Total |
|---|
| $80,000 | $9,161.12 | $2,142.52 | $11,303.64 |
| $150,000 | $17,177.10 | $4,017.23 | $21,194.33 |
| $250,000 | $22,878.00 | $6,973.26 | $29,851.26 |
| $400,000 | $22,878.00 | $12,237.20 | $35,115.20 |
What happens if you're married or also draw wages?
The Additional Medicare Tax threshold depends on filing status: $250,000 for married filing jointly, $125,000 for married filing separately and $200,000 for everyone else. The IRS notes these amounts aren't indexed for inflation. When you have both wages and self-employment income, the IRS reduces the threshold by your wages first, then applies the 0.9% to self-employment income above what's left. The calculator does that automatically when you fill in the wages box. A self-employment loss doesn't reduce this tax.
The calculator assumes your spouse has no wages or self-employment income of their own. If they do, the joint picture changes, and it's worth having us run it with both sets of numbers.
What does the deductible half do for you?
The IRS lets you deduct the employer-equivalent portion of self-employment tax, which is half of the Schedule SE amount, when you figure adjusted gross income. That lowers your income tax. It doesn't lower the self-employment tax itself. The calculator shows the deduction as its own line so you can carry it into your income tax projection.
What about Georgia income tax?
Self-employment tax is a federal tax, filed on Schedule SE with your Form 1040. Your profit also carries Georgia income tax. Under HB 463, the Georgia Department of Revenue reduced the income tax rate from a flat 5.19% to a flat 4.99% for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026. Tick the Georgia box to add an estimate at 4.99%. For an accurate number, enter your Georgia taxable income; if you leave it blank, the estimate starts from profit minus the deductible half and skips Georgia's deductions, so it's a ceiling rather than a forecast.
When does an S corporation start to make sense?
Once self-employment tax climbs past $20,000 or $30,000 a year, owners start asking about an S corporation. The idea is that you pay yourself a salary through payroll and take the rest as distributions. The catch is the word "reasonable": the IRS says an S corporation must pay reasonable compensation to a shareholder-employee for services before non-wage distributions are made, and it can reclassify distributions as wages. We walk through how to set that salary for a construction owner in how construction owners should pay themselves. If you'd like the comparison run on your own numbers, it's part of our tax planning and preparation work.
What should you do with the result?
Treat it as cash you need to set aside. The IRS notes that self-employed people may have to make quarterly estimated tax payments, and those payments can cover self-employment tax as well as income tax. If the number surprised you, two things usually help: a monthly close so you know your profit before December, and a plan for your entity and owner pay. Clean job costing makes both possible, and our construction accounting team builds that monthly view. When you're ready, book a free consultation and bring this result with you.
Sources checked for this calculator
Rates, 92.35% and $400 rule: IRS Topic 554, Self-Employment Tax. Combined wage cap, deductible half and estimated tax: IRS, Self-Employment Tax. Partners and limited partners: Instructions for Schedule SE. Additional Medicare thresholds: IRS Topic 560 and Instructions for Form 8959. Single-member LLCs: IRS, Single Member LLCs. S corporation pay: IRS, S Corporation Compensation. 2026 and 2027 wage base: SSA, Contribution and Benefit Base. Georgia rate: Georgia DOR, Important Tax Updates. All checked October 20, 2026.