Gig Worker Budget Calculator

Built around the reality that gig and freelance income swings from month to month, this calculator starts from your average monthly gross and walks it through the deductions a self-employed worker actually faces: business expenses (as a percentage of gross), self-employment tax (15.3% by default, covering Social Security and Medicare), and estimated income tax — both taxes applied to income after expenses are subtracted. What's left is net monthly income, and multiplying the combined tax by three estimates the quarterly payment the IRS expects from anyone without an employer withholding taxes automatically. The more distinctive piece is the income-floor approach to budgeting: rather than planning around your average month, it computes a "safe monthly budget" from your worst realistic month, using the income-variability percentage you enter to discount the average downward, then applying the same expense and tax rates to that floor.

It also recommends an emergency fund of 3, 6, or 9 months of that safe budget depending on how variable your income is — more volatile work warrants a bigger buffer. The maximum SEP-IRA contribution shown (25% of income after business expenses) is a simplified planning figure; the IRS's actual SEP-IRA formula for self-employed people involves an adjusted net-earnings calculation that reduces the effective rate below a flat 25%, so treat this as an upper-bound estimate to refine with a tax professional, not a final contribution amount.