2022 Self-Employment Tax
For 2022, the Self-Employment Tax is 15.3% (Rate), 12.4% (Social security rate), 2.9% (Medicare rate) and 92.35% (Share of net earnings taxed).
Effective 2022-01-01Source: Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)Verified 2026-08-29
Compared with 2021
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2021.
| Item | 2021 | 2022 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate | 15.3% | 15.3% | +0% (+0.0%) |
| Social security rate | 12.4% | 12.4% | +0% (+0.0%) |
| Medicare rate | 2.9% | 2.9% | +0% (+0.0%) |
| Share of net earnings taxed | 92.35% | 92.35% | +0% (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Self-employed individuals
What changed this year, and why
The self-employment tax rate is 15.3% for 2022. The 15.3% rate is made of two parts: 12.4% for social security and 2.9% for Medicare. Both parts are charged on the same net earnings from self-employment, and only the social security part stops at the year’s wage base.
Common questions
- Who pays the self-employment tax?
- Self-employed individuals must pay this tax on their net earnings from self-employment.
- What are the two parts of the 2022 self-employment tax rate?
- The self-employment tax rate of 15.3% consists of 12.4% for social security and 2.9% for Medicare. The 12.4% social security part applies only up to the year’s social security wage base, while the 2.9% Medicare part applies to all net earnings from self-employment with no ceiling of its own.
The $400 threshold that makes Schedule SE mandatory
If your net earnings from self-employment (not counting any church employee income) reached $400 or more in 2022, you are required to pay self-employment tax and file Schedule SE (Form 1040). This $400 threshold is the trigger: below it, no SE tax is owed on self-employment earnings; at or above it, the full SE tax calculation applies to your net earnings. Church employee income is excluded from this $400 test because it has its own separate, lower threshold. The $400 amount is relatively low, meaning even modest self-employment activity can create a filing obligation. Note that the tax is assessed on your net earnings (profit after allowable business deductions), not on gross receipts. If you meet this threshold, you must compute SE tax at the combined rate of 15.3%, made up of a 12.4% social security portion and a 2.9% Medicare portion, applied to 92.35% of your net earnings.
Who must pay SE tax. You must pay SE tax and file Schedule SE (Form 1040) if either of the following applies. 1. Your net earnings from self-employment (excluding church employee income) were $400 or more.
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
Church employee income is taxed from $108.28
Church employee income has its own, much lower threshold than regular self-employment income. If you earned $108.28 or more as a church employee in 2022, you must pay self-employment tax on that income and file Schedule SE (Form 1040). This threshold is far below the threshold that applies to ordinary self-employment earnings, reflecting the fact that church employees are treated as self-employed for social security and Medicare purposes even though they may receive a Form W-2 for income tax purposes. In other words, the employer church does not withhold or pay the employer share of FICA taxes; instead, the worker is responsible for the full 15.3% SE tax (12.4% social security plus 2.9% Medicare) on that income. As with other SE tax, only 92.35% of the church employee income is actually subject to the tax, and one-half of the computed SE tax is deductible as an adjustment to income.
2. You had church employee income of $108.28 or more.
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
Age and drawing benefits do not exempt you
Self-employment tax applies regardless of your age. Even if you are already receiving social security benefits or Medicare benefits, you still owe SE tax on any net earnings from self-employment that meet the filing threshold. There is no age-based exemption: reaching retirement age or already collecting benefits does not relieve you of the obligation to pay the 15.3% tax (12.4% social security plus 2.9% Medicare) on self-employment income. The tax funds the same programs you may already be drawing from, but the IRS does not excuse current earners from contributing. If you continue working for yourself after beginning to collect benefits, you must still compute and pay SE tax, and you may also become eligible for a higher benefit amount based on the additional earnings reported.
The SE tax rules apply no matter how old you are and even if you are already receiving social secur- ity or Medicare benefits.
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
Half the tax comes back as an adjustment to income
When you compute your self-employment tax, you may deduct one-half of the amount as an adjustment to income on your individual return. This means that while you owe the full 15.3% rate (12.4% social security plus 2.9% Medicare) on your net earnings, half of the resulting tax reduces your adjusted gross income on line 15 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040). This deduction is available whether or not you itemize deductions, making it an above-the-line adjustment. In effect, the IRS treats the employer-equivalent portion of your SE tax as a business expense, even though you as a self-employed person are responsible for the entire 15.3%. The adjustment does not reduce your net earnings from self-employment for purposes of computing SE tax itself; it only lowers your income tax base.
Deduct one-half of your SE tax as an adjustment to income on line 15 of Schedule 1 (Form 1040).
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
Only 92.35% of net earnings is actually taxed
When you figure self-employment tax under the regular method, you multiply your self-employment earnings by 92.35% (0.9235). The result is your net earnings from self-employment, and only that 92.35% share is subject to the 15.3% SE tax (12.4% social security plus 2.9% Medicare). This reduced base approximates the employer-equivalent portion of the tax: because a self-employed person pays both the employer and employee shares of social security and Medicare, the IRS reduces the taxable base so that the employer-equivalent half is not itself taxed. In other words, out of every dollar of self-employment profit, only 92.35 cents is exposed to SE tax. This adjustment is built into the Schedule SE calculation and applies before any income-tax adjustments are made. The reduced amount is reported on line 4a of Schedule SE (Form 1040).
multiply your self-employment earnings by 92.35% (0.9235).
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
Nobody withholds it, so you pay it quarterly
Because nobody withholds self-employment tax from your earnings the way an employer withholds income and FICA taxes from a paycheck, you are responsible for paying the tax yourself throughout the year. If you expect to owe taxes, including self-employment tax, of $1,000 or more when you file your return, you generally must make estimated tax payments using Form 1040-ES. These payments are due quarterly and cover both income tax and SE tax on your self-employment income. If you do not pay enough through withholding or estimated payments, you may owe a penalty for underpayment. If you do not have to make estimated payments, you can pay any tax due when you file your return.
Estimated tax payments. You generally have to make estimated tax payments if you expect to owe taxes, in- cluding self-employment tax (discussed later), of $1,000 or more when you file your return.
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Publication 334 (2022), Tax Guide for Small Business (IRS)
- Rate
SE tax rate. The 2022 SE tax rate on net earnings is 15.3% (12.4% social security tax plus 2.9% Medicare tax).
SE tax rate. The 2022 SE tax rate on net earnings is 15.3% (12.4% social security tax plus 2.9% Medicare tax).
- Medicare rate
SE tax rate. The 2022 SE tax rate on net earnings is 15.3% (12.4% social security tax plus 2.9% Medicare tax).
To figure net earnings using the regular method, multiply your self-employment earnings by 92.35% (0.9235).