Does the social security tax for a self-employed person get paid at the same as the federal income tax is paid?

Answer 1

Technically yes, but there is more

If you are an employee, you have social security taxes (FICA and medicare taxes) withheld at a current rate of 7.65%. Your employer matches this by paying another 7.65%, remitting to the government 15.3% of your total gross salary. The employer gets to deduct its portion of your social security taxes as an expense.

If you are self employed, you are technically an employee of yourself. So you, the person, pays your 7.65% and you, the employer, also pays the 7.65%. In total, as an individual you remit a total of 15.3% to the government, but you also can deduct 1/2 of that amount from your pre-tax self employment income on your 1040

Note that the current FICA tax rate is 6.20% and is phased out at a income threshhold which changes annually, the medicare portion rate is 1.45% and does not phase out.

The above gets too weird. If your are self employed there is no payroll to withold on.

Yes Fica, the entire 13+% is payable with your quarterly estimated payment.

There is no employer to pay 1/2 of it..you are self employed.

That it is quarterly, rather than weekly or such (pay period) is already a beneit.