If you are a small business owner, an independent contractor, a freelancer – whatever you or the people who pay you call it – you are subject to self-employment tax. This is in addition to regular income tax. Self-employment tax is 15.3% of your net profit as opposed to your gross income. The rate is equal to the percentage of Social Security and Medicare taxes that would be withheld from your pay, were you paid as an employee plus the equal percentage that your employer would pay.
Besides the positive feeling that you are contributing to funding the social safety net, the one good thing is that you can deduct the expenses you had earning that income, and you are only paying tax on the net result.