Marriage tax calculator
Two people each earning $250,000 pay exactly the same married as single — $102,608 either way. The bonus and the penalty both come from one income being larger than the other: $120,000 and nothing saves $7,530 by marrying, while two equal high incomes save nothing, because the joint bands are twice the single ones up to the top bracket and stop being so above it.
What marrying does to a federal income tax bill for 2026: the two single returns it replaces, the joint return that replaces them, and the difference. Most couples are better off. The penalty needs two large incomes of roughly the same size.
IRS brackets and standard deduction for 2026 · How we check
No difference
$0a year
Marrying changes their federal income tax by less than a dollar.
| Filing | Income | Deduction | Tax | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single, one of you | $95,000 | $16,100 | $12,070 | 12.7% |
| Single, the other | $75,000 | $16,100 | $7,670 | 10.2% |
| Both, unmarried | $170,000 | $32,200 | $19,740 | 11.6% |
| Married, filing jointly | $170,000 | $32,200 | $19,740 | 11.6% |
The smaller income is 44% of the household total. That share is what decides the direction: the closer to 50% and the higher the two incomes, the more likely a penalty; the closer to 0%, the larger the bonus.
Where the penalty actually comes from
Every joint band below the top two is exactly twice the single one, so two people with the same combined income pay the same tax married or not. The doubling stops at the 35% ceiling — and that single break is the entire federal marriage penalty.
| Rate | Single, taxed up to | Joint, taxed up to | Joint ÷ single |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $12,400 | $24,800 | 2.0× |
| 12% | $50,400 | $100,800 | 2.0× |
| 22% | $105,700 | $211,400 | 2.0× |
| 24% | $201,775 | $403,550 | 2.0× |
| 32% | $256,225 | $512,450 | 2.0× |
| 35% | $640,600 | $768,700 | 1.2× |
| 37% | no ceiling | no ceiling | — |
The 35% band ends at $640,600 for a single filer and $768,700 jointly — 1.2 times, not two. Two singles reach 37% only above $1,281,200 between them; a married couple reaches it at $768,700. The penalty is 2% of whatever falls in that gap, so it starts at a combined gross income of about $800,900 and stops growing at $10,250 a year.
The bonus is the common case
One partner earning $200,000 and one earning nothing pay $36,734 as two single filers and $26,340 filing jointly — $10,394 a year less. Nothing about the income changed; the joint bands are simply twice as wide, so dollars that were taxed at 32% as a single return fall into the 24% band as a joint one.
That is why the penalty gets the headlines and the bonus gets the money. A couple has to be both wealthy and evenly matched to lose, and the further apart the two incomes are, the more marrying is worth.
Questions people actually ask
- Is there a marriage penalty in the tax code?
- Yes, but it is narrower than its reputation. For 2026 the married-filing-jointly brackets are exactly twice the single ones through the 10%, 12%, 22%, 24% and 32% bands. Only the 35% ceiling breaks the pattern: it ends at $768,700 jointly against $1,281,200 for two single filers. A couple pays a penalty only when their combined taxable income crosses that gap, which for an evenly split couple starts at about $800,900 of gross income.
- How big can the marriage penalty get?
- On the federal rate schedule alone, 2026's maximum is $10,250 a year: 2% — the step from 35% to 37% — applied to the $512,500 of income that falls in the gap between the joint and the doubled single threshold. Above that the penalty stops growing, because both filings are taxing the extra dollars at 37% either way. State tax, the net investment income tax and phase-outs of credits can add to it.
- Who gets a marriage bonus?
- Couples with unequal incomes, which is most of them. One income of $200,000 and one of nothing saves $10,394 a year by marrying, because the joint bands are twice as wide and absorb income the single table would have taxed higher. $95,000 against $45,000 saves $2,150. The more lopsided the pair, the larger the bonus.
- Should we file separately to avoid it?
- Almost never for this reason. Married filing separately uses brackets that are half the joint ones — the same as single — but it also disqualifies you from the earned income credit, the student loan interest deduction, most education credits, and the Roth contribution phase-out is $0 to $10,000 instead of $242,000. It occasionally wins on large medical expenses or an income-driven student loan repayment, and it is worth running both ways when either applies.
- Does this include state tax?
- No — federal income tax only, on the rate schedules and standard deduction. Several states have their own marriage penalty because they do not double their brackets, and a handful cure it by letting couples file separately on one return. Neither is covered here.
- Does the date of the wedding matter?
- Your filing status for the whole year is your status on 31 December. Marrying on the 30th makes the entire year a married year, and divorcing on the 30th makes it a single one — which is the arithmetic behind both the December wedding and the December divorce.
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
Federal income tax on the rate schedules only — no FICA, no state tax, no credits and no phase-outs. An estimate, not tax advice.