Being self-employed means you earn a living working for yourself rather than as an employee, and you are personally responsible for reporting income and paying your own taxes and social contributions. The term describes a tax and social-security status, not a specific legal form, so it covers freelancers, independent contractors, sole traders and many company owners.
What unites the self-employed everywhere is that no employer withholds tax for them. In the United States they pay self-employment tax to fund Social Security and Medicare on top of income tax. In the United Kingdom they pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance through Self Assessment. Germany's Selbststandige and France's travailleurs independants handle their own social contributions, sometimes through simplified regimes.
- You file your own return and pay tax directly
- You cover both the employee and employer share of social charges
- You can usually deduct genuine business expenses
Example: a US freelancer earning 70,000 dollars owes roughly 15.3 percent self-employment tax plus income tax, unlike an employee whose employer pays half the payroll tax.
Members of an LLC are typically self-employed too. Compare how obligations differ across countries with our tax comparison tool.