Free Side Hustle Tax Calculator: How Much to Set Aside
With a regular job, tax comes out of each paycheck. With most side hustle income, nobody withholds it, so it helps to set money aside as you earn. This calculator gives a rough US federal estimate of self-employment tax plus income tax on your side hustle profit, and turns it into a monthly and quarterly amount.
It runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. The numbers filled in below are a made-up example; change them to yours.
How the math works
- Self-employment tax is figured on 92.35% of your net profit: 12.4% for Social Security (on earnings up to $184,500 in 2026, counting wages) plus 2.9% for Medicare, so about 15.3% in total. Net earnings under $400 generally owe none.
- Half of the self-employment tax is deductible, so income tax here is your bracket rate times (profit − half of the self-employment tax).
- It assumes your other income already uses up your standard deduction, and it leaves out credits, the qualified business income deduction, the extra 0.9% Medicare tax for high earners and state rules, so your real bill can be higher or lower.
- Per quarter = total ÷ 4. The IRS generally expects quarterly estimated payments if you'll owe $1,000 or more; see IRS: Self-employment tax and IRS: Estimated tax.
Example (made up): $10,000 of profit in the 12% bracket with no state tax is about $1,413 of self-employment tax plus about $1,115 of income tax, so about $2,528 total (25.3% of profit), or about $632 a quarter.
This is a rough estimate for planning, not tax advice. A tax professional can tell you what you'll really owe.
Want to track it every month?
The Side Hustle Income & Expense Tracker ($7) is a spreadsheet that logs income from up to 8 streams with platform fees, expenses by category and mileage, shows profit by month and by stream, and applies a set-aside percentage you choose to each month's profit. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
Get the tracker on Gumroad – $7
This template is also in the Self-Employed & Small Business Bundle (what's inside): all 9 business tools for $29 (about $80 if bought one by one).
We make this template, so take that into account. The calculator above is free to use either way.
Related free guides
- How Much to Set Aside for Side Hustle Taxes
- Side Hustle Budget: Tracking Your First $1,000
- Is Your Side Hustle Worth It? Work Out Profit per Hour
- How to Track Car Mileage for Taxes
More free tools: all calculators.
See all Cedar & Ledger templates