US Freelancer Tax Calculator 2026

freelance-tax-mcp

A free Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for US freelancer and sole-proprietor taxes in 2026: quarterly estimated tax with the safe harbor, self-employment tax (Schedule SE, with the Additional Medicare Tax), the Section 199A QBI deduction (Form 8995 / 8995-A), the hourly rate you need to charge, IRS due dates, the IRS mileage deduction (including the July 1, 2026 rate change), the home office deduction, the most you can put into a SEP IRA vs a Solo 401(k), and official GSA per diem rates with the self-employed meal deduction. Everything runs locally: no API key, no account, no network calls.

Tools

Tool	What it does
estimate	2026 federal estimate from net_profit (or ytd_profit + months): SE tax, income tax, QBI, safe-harbor quarterly payment and due dates. Options filing_status, w2_wages, withholding, prior_year_tax, prior_year_agi, state_rate_pct.
self_employment_tax	2026 Schedule SE: 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit (none under $400), Social Security 12.4% up to the $184,500 wage base minus your W-2 wages, Medicare 2.9% with no cap, 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax over $200,000 / $250,000 (mfj) / $125,000 (mfs) split into the SE and wage parts, the deductible half, quarterly share and effective rate. Options filing_status, w2_wages, spouse_w2_wages, ytd_profit + months.
qbi_deduction	2026 Section 199A Qualified Business Income deduction for one business (Form 8995 / 8995-A): 20% of QBI at or below the $201,750 threshold ($403,500 mfj), the phase-in range up to $276,750 ($553,500 mfj) with the W-2 wage / UBIA limit, the SSTB phase-out, 20% of REIT/PTP income and the cap of 20% of taxable income minus net capital gain. Needs qbi and taxable_income (before the QBI deduction); options filing_status, sstb, w2_wages, ubia, reit_ptp_income, net_capital_gain.
freelance_hourly_rate	Hourly and day rate needed to take home a target income after tax, business costs, weeks off, non-billable hours and a slow-month buffer; check_rate shows what a given rate pays per year and per hour worked.
due_dates	Quarterly estimated tax due dates for a year, moved past weekends and DC legal holidays.
mileage	Standard mileage deduction priced by the date of each trip (business 72.5 cents Jan to Jun 2026, 76 cents from Jul 1), from a trip log or split totals.
mileage_rates	IRS mileage rates by period with sources.
home_office	Simplified ($5 per sq ft, up to 300 sq ft) vs regular Form 8829 method, with the income limit and carryovers.
retirement_contribution	2026 SEP IRA vs Solo 401(k) maximum contribution for a sole proprietor or single-member LLC (IRS Pub. 560 rate worksheet): employer share, $24,500 deferral, catch-up ($8,000 at 50+, $11,250 at 60 to 63), the $72,000 cap, which plan allows more and estimated income tax saved. Options age_group, w2_wages, other_deferrals, plan_rate, bracket.
per_diem_rates	Official GSA CONUS per diem rates (FY2026 and FY2027) by ZIP, city or state: lodging maximum by month and the M&IE breakdown.
per_diem_trip	Maximum per diem for a trip under GSA/FTR rules: lodging per night, M&IE with 75% on the first and last day, minus provided meals.
meal_deduction	Self-employed meal deduction with the IRS standard meal allowance (Pub. 463): federal M&IE rate, 3/4 on travel days (or full), times 50% (or 80% for DOT hours-of-service workers).
mie_breakdown	GSA meals and incidentals tiers (breakfast, lunch, dinner, incidentals, first/last day).
tax_figures	2026 brackets, standard deductions, SE tax figures and official IRS/SSA sources.

Figures come from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, the SSA 2026 wage base ($184,500), Form 1040-ES (2026), IRS Announcement 2026-11, Pub. 587, Pub. 560, IRS Notice 2025-67 (2026 retirement plan limits), Forms 8995 and 8995-A (Section 199A), Pub. 463 and GSA per diem rates (api.gsa.gov, fetched 2026-10-20; public domain). Planning estimates only; not tax, legal or accounting advice.

Install

Requires Node.js 18 or newer.

npx -y freelance-tax-mcp

Add to your MCP client's config (for Cursor, ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freelance-tax": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "freelance-tax-mcp"] }
  }
}

From source: git clone https://github.com/NarwhalThePong/freelance-tax-mcp.git && cd freelance-tax-mcp && npm install && npm test.

Example

estimate with { "net_profit": 80000 } (single, no other income) returns self-employment tax of $11,303.64, total 2026 federal tax of $16,647.47 and a quarterly payment of $4,161.87, with the four due dates.

self_employment_tax with { "net_profit": 250000, "w2_wages": 50000 } (single) returns Social Security of $16,678 (only $134,500 of wage base left), Medicare of $6,695.38, self-employment tax of $23,373.38 (deductible half $11,686.69) and $727.88 of Additional Medicare Tax on the self-employment income.

qbi_deduction with { "qbi": 150000, "taxable_income": 240000, "sstb": true, "w2_wages": 40000 } (single, a consulting-type service business inside the phase-in range) keeps 49% of the QBI and wages, so 20% of $73,500 is $14,700, the wage limit is $9,800 and the phase-in reduction is $2,499, giving a QBI deduction of $12,201.

freelance_hourly_rate with the defaults ($60,000 take-home, $6,000 costs, 30% tax, 6 weeks off, 40 hours a week, 65% billable, 10% buffer) returns $85.21 an hour ($681.64 a day) over 1,196 billable hours.

retirement_contribution with { "net_profit": 100000 } (under 50) returns a SEP IRA maximum of $18,587.04 and a Solo 401(k) maximum of $43,087.04 ($24,500 deferral + $18,587.04 employer share).

meal_deduction with { "zip": "10001", "start": "2026-11-03", "end": "2026-11-06" } (New York City, 4 days) returns a standard meal allowance of $322 ($69 + $92 + $92 + $69) and a 50% deduction of $161.

Prefer a web page?

• Free 2026 self-employment tax calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/self-employment-tax-calculator
• Free 2026 QBI deduction calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/qbi-deduction-calculator
• Free freelance hourly rate calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/freelance-hourly-rate-calculator
• Free freelance quarterly estimated tax calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/freelance-quarterly-estimated-tax-calculator
• Free 2026 mileage deduction calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/2026-mileage-deduction-calculator
• Free home office deduction calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/home-office-deduction-calculator
• Free SEP IRA vs Solo 401(k) contribution calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/self-employed-retirement-contribution-calculator
• Free self-employed per diem meal deduction calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/self-employed-per-diem-meal-deduction-calculator
• Free GSA per diem calculator: https://narwhalthepong.github.io/gumroad-license-check/gsa-per-diem-calculator

Disclosure: these are our own free pages.

Prefer a spreadsheet?

• Freelancer Quarterly Tax Planner 2026 (Excel + Google Sheets), $9: logs each payment and expense, works out how much of every dollar to set aside, the safe-harbor and full quarterly payments, and tracks what you've paid against the 2026 due dates.
• Home Office Deduction Worksheet (Excel + Google Sheets), $9: simplified vs regular (Form 8829) method side by side, with depreciation, the income limit and carryovers.

Both are our own paid products (the MCP server stays free). Not tax advice.

License

MIT