Income tax calculator
A single filer on $75,000 owes $7,670 in federal income tax for 2026 — an effective rate of 10.2% against a marginal rate of 22%. The gap between those two numbers is the whole point of a bracket system: the 22% applies only to the $8,500 above $50,400, not to the salary.
Federal income tax for 2026, broken down band by band — which dollars were taxed at which rate, and what you actually paid across all of them. Not one figure.
IRS brackets and standard deduction for 2026 · How we check
Federal income tax
$13,170
- Taxable income
- $83,900 after a $16,100 deduction
- Take-home before other taxes
- $86,830
- Your bracket (marginal rate)
- 22.00%
- What you actually paid (effective)
- 13.17%
Where each dollar landed
| Rate | Band | Income in it | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.00% | $0 to $12,400 | $12,400 | $1,240 |
| 12.00% | $12,400 to $50,400 | $38,000 | $4,560 |
| 22.00% | $50,400 to $105,700 | $33,500 | $7,370 |
You are “in the 22.00% bracket” and you paid 13.17%. Only the income in the last row was taxed at 22.00%; everything below it was taxed at the lower rates above, whatever bracket you reach. You could earn $21,800 more before any of it is taxed above 22.00%.
The bracket is not your tax rate
Someone single earning $100,000 is in the 22% bracket and pays 13.17% — $13,170 on $100,000. The first $12,400 of taxable income is taxed at 10%, the next $38,000 at 12%, and only the remaining $33,500 at 22%. Quoting the bracket as the tax rate overstates the bill by more than half.
The same arithmetic settles the raise question. Crossing a boundary changes the rate on the dollars above it and nothing else, so there is no income where earning more leaves you with less. That is not an opinion here: the test suite walks one dollar either side of every boundary in every filing status and fails if take-home pay ever falls.
Four deductions that did not exist before 2025
The Working Families Tax Cuts, signed on 4 July 2025, created four deductions that run from 2025 through 2028. Each is available whether or not you itemise, each requires a social security number on the return, and each requires a married couple to file jointly. None of them is in the calculator above, because all four depend on facts a bracket calculator cannot see — enter your income after them.
| Deduction | Most you can deduct | Phases out above |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified tips | $25,000 | $150,000 · $300,000 joint |
| Qualified overtime | $12,500 · $25,000 joint | $150,000 · $300,000 joint |
| Age 65 and over | $6,000 each | $75,000 · $150,000 joint |
| Car loan interest | $10,000 | $100,000 · $200,000 joint |
- “No tax on tips” is a deduction, not an exemption. Tips still count as wages for social security and Medicare, and still appear on the W-2. The deduction removes them from taxable income up to $25,000, which is worth the tip income multiplied by your bracket — for someone in the 12% band, $3,000 on $25,000 of tips, not $25,000.
- “No tax on overtime” covers the half, not the time-and-a-half. Only the premium above your regular rate qualifies: on eight hours at $33 where the regular rate is $22, the deductible part is $88, not $264. It has to be overtime the FLSA required — a contractual rate above the federal minimum does not count. The overtime calculator prints that premium as its own line.
- The senior deduction stacks. It is on top of the extra standard deduction people over 65 already get, and it is per person, so a couple who both qualify deduct $12,000.
- The car loan interest rules are narrow. The loan must have been taken out after 31 December 2024, on a new vehicle for personal use, secured by a lien, and the vehicle must have had its final assembly in the United States. Leases do not qualify and used vehicles do not qualify.
Questions people actually ask
- Can a raise leave me with less money?
- No. Brackets are marginal: crossing into the 24% band means the dollars above the threshold are taxed at 24%, and every dollar below it is still taxed at the lower rates. There is no income at which earning one more dollar reduces take-home pay. This site tests that claim across every bracket boundary and every filing status rather than asserting it.
- What is the difference between my bracket and my tax rate?
- Your bracket is the rate on your last dollar; your effective rate is the tax you paid over everything you earned. On $100,000 single, the bracket is 22% and the effective rate is 13.2% — the gap is the whole point of a progressive system, and quoting the bracket as "my tax rate" overstates it by more than half.
- Does this include state tax, Social Security or Medicare?
- No — federal income tax only. FICA is a separate 7.65% on wages (6.2% Social Security up to the wage base, 1.45% Medicare with no ceiling) and state income tax ranges from nothing to over 13%. The paycheck calculator handles withholding across all of them for a single pay period.
- Should I itemise?
- Only when your itemised deductions beat the standard one, which for 2026 is $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly and $24,150 head of household — and for 2025, after the One Big Beautiful Bill raised it retroactively, $15,750, $31,500 and $23,625. Enter your itemised total and the calculator takes whichever is larger, which is what the IRS does. Most filers take the standard deduction.
- Which year should I pick?
- 2026 if you are working out tax on money you are earning now — that return is filed in 2027. 2025 if you are filing or amending the return due this year. The brackets and the standard deduction differ between them, and both sets come from Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which also restates the 2025 deduction the One Big Beautiful Bill raised after it was first announced.
Sources
- IRS — Federal income tax rates and brackets
- IRS — Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, including the One Big Beautiful Bill amendments (standard deduction, both years)
- IRS FS-2025-03 — the tips, overtime, senior and car loan interest deductions, and what each one requires
An estimate of federal income tax, not tax advice. What you owe is settled on your return.