8570 / What are the Social Security tax and Medicare rates for self-employed taxpayers?
Unlike a wage earner whose liability is limited to one-half of the FICA tax, a self-employed individual is obligated to pay the entire amount of the 15.3 percent SECA tax, or 12.4 percent Social Security tax and 2.9 percent Medicare tax. Similar to FICA, the Social Security tax cap for self-employment income is the same dollar amount as the Social Security wage cap. Indexed for inflation, for 2024, the Social Security cap for self-employment income is $16,600.2
On the other hand, there is no cap on the amount of self-employment income subject to the Medicare tax. Moreover, effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2012, subject to filing status thresholds, there is an additional Medicare surtax of 0.9 percent added to the 2.9 percent Medicare tax rate (see Q 8657).
[1]. SECA is codified as Chapter 2 of the Internal Revenue Code.
[2]. www.socialsecurity.gov.