Self-Employed Tax Calculator — Virginia (2026)
Self-employed in Virginia? Your tax bill has three layers that a W-2 employee never sees in full: 15.3% self-employment tax on 92.35% of net profit, federal income tax, and Virginia state income tax. This calculator applies all three to your 2026 net profit and shows the quarterly amount you should be setting aside. Virginia uses a progressive income tax with 4 brackets running from 2.00% up to 5.75%, applied after a state standard deduction of $8,500.
Virginia Self-Employed Tax Calculator
Gross 1099 income minus business expenses.
Self-employment tax vs Virginia income tax
Self-employment tax is federal and identical in all 50 states: 12.4% Social Security up to $184,500 of net earnings plus 2.9% Medicare with no cap. Half of it is deductible against income tax, which is why the calculator subtracts it before applying brackets.
Virginia then taxes essentially the same profit figure at 2.00%–5.75%. On $80,000 of net profit that adds roughly $3,529 to the bill.
Virginia has no separate city or county income tax, so the state figure above is the full sub-federal income tax you pay.
Deductions that matter for Virginia freelancers
Net profit — not gross revenue — drives every number here. Ordinary and necessary business expenses reduce SE tax, federal tax, and Virginia tax simultaneously: the 2026 standard mileage rate of $0.67/mile, home-office square footage, software, equipment, professional insurance, and the self-employed health insurance deduction.
Retirement plans go further. A SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) reduces income tax (though not SE tax) and is often the largest single deduction available to a profitable defense contractor in Virginia Beach.
Working for yourself in Virginia
Virginia's economy leans on defense, government contracting, and shipping, which shapes the contractor market around Virginia Beach — and your fixed costs. With one-bedroom rent near $1,500, a freelancer needs meaningfully more gross revenue than an employee to reach the same lifestyle, because there is no employer paying half of FICA.
Virginia's top rate of 5.75% kicks in at just $17,000 — among the lowest top-bracket thresholds of any progressive-tax state.
Local and payroll taxes Virginia adds on top
Virginia adds no state-mandated employee payroll deduction beyond FICA, so nothing extra is taken from your gross pay at the state level.
Virginia has no separate city or county income tax, so the state figure above is the full sub-federal income tax you pay.
Nobody withholds these for you when you are self-employed in Virginia. Local wage taxes, city business licences and gross-receipts style levies are yours to register for and remit alongside your quarterly federal and state estimates.
Working across a state line from Virginia
Virginia holds income-tax reciprocity agreements with District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. If you commute between them, your wages are taxed only by your state of residence — file the exemption certificate with your employer so the wrong state is not withheld from every paycheck.
Remote and hybrid work complicates this further: most states tax income where the work is physically performed, so a Virginia Beach resident spending part of the year at a client site in North Carolina may owe a nonresident return there. Keep a day-count log if you split time between states.
The rest of your Virginia tax bill
Virginia charges a 5.3% state sales tax, homeowners pay an average effective property tax of 0.87% of market value, and the minimum wage in force during 2026 is $12.77 an hour.
Combined rates reach 7% in Historic Triangle localities.
Income tax is only one part of a state's take. Virginia recovers revenue through sales and property tax as well, which is why headline income tax rates alone are a poor guide to how far a salary really goes. Virginia exempts Social Security and allows an age deduction up to $12,000 for filers 65+ subject to income limits.
Virginia vs North Carolina on the same salary
On a $90,000 salary, a single filer keeps about $67,716 a year in Virginia against roughly $68,669 in North Carolina — a difference of $953, or $79 a month.
Effective combined rates are 24.8% in Virginia and 23.7% in North Carolina. Set that gap against living costs: index 102 here versus 96 there, with property tax at 0.87% and 0.8% respectively.
Virginia income tax brackets 2026 (single filer)
| Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 – $3,000 | 2.00% |
| $3,000 – $5,000 | 3.00% |
| $5,000 – $17,000 | 5.00% |
| $17,000 and up | 5.75% |