Pension Contribution Estimator — How It Works
Self-employed individuals in the US pay self-employment (SE) tax at 15.3% — 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare — on net earnings up to the Social Security wage base ($168,600 in 2024). This builds future Social Security retirement benefits.
This tool estimates your annual SE tax contributions and provides a simplified estimate of future monthly Social Security benefits. The actual benefit depends on your full earnings history and when you claim, so use this as a rough planning guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The IRS allows self-employed individuals to deduct the employer-equivalent portion (half of SE tax) from gross income when calculating adjusted gross income (AGI). This reduces your income tax but not your SE tax itself.
You need at least 40 work credits (typically 10 years of work) to qualify for retirement benefits. Fewer credits result in no benefit — not a reduced benefit. Self-employment income earns credits just like employee wages.
Claiming at 70 instead of 62 increases your monthly benefit by roughly 77%. If you are in good health and expect to live into your 80s, delaying typically results in more lifetime benefits — the break-even age is usually around 80–82.