Free tax tools for the self-employed
Free calculators that run on this year's IRS figures, show every step of the math, and split your bill into four quarterly payments. No account, and the numbers you type never leave your browser.
Set aside for Q3 2026
Due Sep 15Example: $70,000 net profit, single filer, no W-2 income. Federal only. Figures for tax year 2026.
Every rate, bracket and threshold is checked against the IRS and the SSA, not against other blogs. Each one carries the date it was last verified.
Every calculation runs on your device. What you type is never sent to Solvent, because there is nowhere for it to go. Solvent counts page visits with Google Analytics, which sees the page you are on and not a single field on it.
Every calculator and guide carries a named author and a working email address. No content farm, no anonymous byline.
Four free tools. No login, no upsell, and no email wall standing between you and your answer.
Quarterly Tax Estimator
Know what to send the IRS each quarter.
Open →Self-Employment Tax Calculator
See your Social Security and Medicare tax on 1099 income.
Open →Invoice Generator
Build a clean, client-ready invoice. No signup, no watermark.
Open →Estimate Generator
Turn a scope of work into a professional cost estimate in minutes.
Open →Self-employed tax is two things stacked together: self-employment tax, which is Social Security and Medicare on your net profit, and ordinary federal income tax on what's left after deductions. Most states add their own income tax on top, and a few, California and New York among them, expect estimated payments on a different schedule than the IRS.
All of it gets paid the same way: four estimated payments a year, due in April, June, September, and January, because nobody withholds it from a 1099 for you.
Most of them run on last year's brackets, because nobody went back and updated them in January. They skip the deductions that actually move your number, such as the qualified business income deduction and the deductible half of self-employment tax. And they hand you one figure with no way to check where it came from.
Solvent shows you the arithmetic with your own numbers in it, and links the IRS publication behind every constant. Where a calculation takes a shortcut, the page says so instead of burying it.
How the calculators work →Plain-English guides to the parts of self-employment tax that trip people up. Every figure cited to the IRS, the SSA, or a state tax agency.
Estimated taxes
How to pay quarterly taxes in 2026
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6 best tax software options for the self-employed
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How to make California estimated tax payments in 2026
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Read →Estimated tax payments are due four times a year, and the IRS does not send a reminder. Leave your email and Solvent will send one about a week before each due date, with that quarter's figures and a link back to the estimator.
That is all it is for. No newsletter, no pitch, no selling your address to anyone.
Coming soon.
Solvent's calculators and guides are written by Nicolas Straut, a personal and business finance writer and former Forbes contributor. He has spent eight years writing about money and building content for fintech companies including NerdWallet and North One Business Banking.
He still files his own taxes as a freelancer, which is why the small details get checked rather than assumed. He is not a CPA, and Solvent is not meant to replace one.
More about Solvent, including how it makes money →