Worked example · updated 2026-08-01
A first year of full-time delivery driving
Gross payouts of $52,000 look like a salary until self-employment tax arrives. What the quarterly payments actually come to once mileage is deducted and both halves of FICA are owed.
Illustrative worked example. The household is hypothetical; every figure is computed by the same verified engines and rule packs the calculators use.
The situation
A hypothetical full-time delivery driver takes $52,000 in gross platform payouts across their first year of self-employment, and tracks $14,000 of deductible costs — mostly mileage at the IRS standard rate, plus phone and equipment. They are single, with no other income and no withholding from any job.
What goes in
- Gross platform payouts
- $52,000
- Mileage and other expenses
- $14,000
- Net profit
- $38,000
- Filing status
- Single
What comes out
Each quarterly payment
$1,567.33
- Self-employment tax15.3% on 92.35% of profit
- $5,369
- Federal income tax
- $1,597
- Total estimated tax
- $6,966
- QBI deduction appliedsimplified method
- $3,843
- Effective rate on profit
- 18.3%
- Deductible half of SE tax
- $2,685
Verified 2026-07-31 against IRS newsroom — tax year 2026 inflation adjustments (Rev. Proc. 2025-32); brackets/QBI cross-checked in Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the 2026 Form 1040-ES (effective 2026-01-01)
The tax is computed on profit, not payouts
Platform forms report gross settled payments, before fees and before any expense. Self-employment tax applies to net profit — payouts less deductible costs — and only once net earnings clear the statutory floor for the year. Mileage is usually the largest single deduction for a driver, which is why a contemporaneous log matters more than any other record.
Both halves of Social Security and Medicare are owed
An employee splits these with an employer and sees only their half on a pay stub. Self-employed, the whole combined rate applies, computed on the statutory fraction of profit the IRS specifies. Half of the base amount is then deductible from income, which reduces income tax but not the self-employment tax itself — a distinction that surprises people in their first year.
The QBI deduction reduces income tax, not self-employment tax
Below the annual taxable-income threshold, a fixed share of qualified business income can be deducted, which lowers the income-tax half of the bill. It does nothing to self-employment tax, so the combined effective rate stays well above what a comparable salary would carry. The figure below is the deduction this profit actually earns, not the ceiling.
Four payments, on dates that do not divide the year evenly
Estimated payments fall in April, June, September, and the following January. Because there is no withholding, missing them can trigger an underpayment penalty even when the balance is paid in full at filing — which is what the safe-harbor rules exist to prevent.
What this example is good for
The gap between gross payouts and what is left after tax is wide enough that treating platform income like a salary is the classic first-year mistake. Setting the quarterly figure aside as money arrives, rather than estimating at the deadline, is what makes the April payment survivable.
Run this with your own numbers — Quarterly Taxes
Estimate your 2026 federal quarterly estimated taxes in one pass: self-employment tax plus income tax after the $16,100–$32,200 standard deduction and the simplified 20% QBI deduction, sized to the IRS safe harbor of 90% of this year or 100–110% of last year, and split across the April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 vouchers.
Calculators behind this example
Quarterly Taxes
Estimate your 2026 federal quarterly estimated taxes in one pass: self-employment tax plus income tax after the $16,100–$32,200 standard deduction and the simplified 20% QBI deduction, sized to the IRS safe harbor of 90% of this year or 100–110% of last year, and split across the April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 vouchers.
SE Tax
Estimate 2026 self-employment tax on your freelance or gig profit: 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare apply to 92.35% of net earnings, with the $184,500 wage base, W-2 wage coordination, the 0.9% additional surtax, and the deductible half of SE tax — every figure verified against the IRS 2026 inflation-adjustment release and the 2026 Form 1040-ES.
Mileage
Estimate your 2026 business mileage deduction with the mid-year IRS rate split applied automatically: miles driven January through June count at 72.5 cents each under Notice 2026-10, and miles driven July through December count at 76 cents under Announcement 2026-11. Enter the two totals and see the deduction, the math, and the source the rates come from.
Estimate only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Only IRS can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: 2026 Form 1040-ES — Estimated Tax for Individuals ↗
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