topic If the self-employment tax rate for the US is 15.3% in total, why is my form showing what equals a self-employed tax rate of 27.2% of my net self-employed income? in Self employed

If the self-employment tax rate for the US is 15.3% in total, why is my form showing what equals a self-employed tax rate of 27.2% of my net self-employed income?

t-tomley — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:43:18 GMT

What rate does Turbo Tax use to determine my self-employment tax liability?

Re: If the self-employment tax rate for the US is 15.3% in total, why is my form showing what equ...

CatinaT1 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:51:06 GMT

I'm guessing what you are seeing is actually your self-employment tax and your income tax together. Self Employment is 15.3% and you are likely in the 12% tax bracket.

Re: If the self-employment tax rate for the US is 15.3% in total, why is my form showing what equals a self-employed tax rate of 27.2% of my net self-employed income?

DoninGA — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:53:30 GMT

The Self-Employment taxes on SE income is 15.3%.

See IRS Schedule SE Line 12 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sse.pdf

Flows to Schedule 2 Line 4. The total on Schedule 2 Line 21 flows to Form 1040 Line 23

Re: If the self-employment tax rate for the US is 15.3% in total, why is my form showing what equ...

t-tomley — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:04:31 GMT

Thank you for answering. That's what I thought, but TurboTax tells me "After applying your deductions, your taxable income is $0. Based on this amount, your total tax before any credits is [equivalent to ~27% of my total income]. This includes self-employment tax of [equivalent to ~27% of my total income]."

This text makes it sound like I shouldn't have any amount viable to be taxed via income tax, so I should have the 15% self-employment tax on my income only, not 27%. There is no option to ask for clarification on this to understand where they are getting the [27% tax] even in the Federal Numbers Breakdown. Am I reading this right? I was almost entirely self-employed this past year so there's no other major income complicating this.

The lack of transparency is killing me. It doesn't list the self-employment tax rate or my tax bracket anywhere on the site. I want to make sure the software is calculating right. I may try another free software to see if the numbers are coming out the same elsewhere...

Re: If the self-employment tax rate for the US is 15.3% in total, why is my form showing what equ...

ThomasM125 — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 20:16:12 GMT

I suggest you look at your Form 1040 and see what your tax and income is.

You self-employment income would appear on Schedule 1, line 3. Your self-employment tax would be on line 4 of Schedule 2. Your income tax would appear on line 24 of form 1040. Your adjusted gross income is on line 11 of Form 1040.

You can see Form 1040 and schedule 1 to 3 while working in the online TurboTax program as follows:

Choose Tax Tools from your left menu bar in TurboTax Online while working in your program
Choose Tools
Choose View Tax Summary
See the Preview my 1040 option in the left menu bar and click on it
Choose the Back option in the left menu bar when you are done