Income Tax Calculator
Estimate the income tax on one year of earnings. Enter your income, filing status and deduction, and the calculator walks the 2026 federal brackets one slice at a time, then shows your marginal rate, effective rate and what is left after tax.
Estimate only, not tax advice. 2026 federal brackets and standard deductions (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32) on one year of ordinary income. Income tax only — Social Security and Medicare are separate payroll taxes. No credits, no phase-outs, no capital gains rates and no state brackets: check IRS forms or a tax professional.
Formula and calculation
Worked example
On $100,000 of income, a single filer takes the $16,100 standard deduction, leaving $83,900.00 taxable. The brackets add up to $13,170.00 of federal income tax — a marginal rate of 22% but an effective rate of only 13.17% — so income after tax is $86,830.00.
Income tax is not your whole tax bill
Two payroll taxes sit alongside income tax and never appear on this page: Social Security at 6.2% of pay up to $184,500 and Medicare at 1.45% of everything, plus an extra 0.9% above $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for a joint return. On $100,000 that is another $7,650, which is why the number here looks smaller than what actually leaves a paycheck. For a per-paycheck view that includes payroll taxes, use the paycheck calculator; this page answers the annual filing question instead.
Standard or itemized? It is the larger one that counts
You choose, and the tax code lets you take whichever is bigger, so the smaller one never helps. The standard deduction is $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly and $24,150 head of household for 2026. Itemizing pays off mainly when mortgage interest, state and local taxes (subject to an annual cap), charitable gifts and large medical expenses add up past that line. Switch the mode above and the calculator applies the larger of the two for you — but it does not check whether an expense actually qualifies, and phased limits on high earners are not modeled.
What the results mean
- Income tax for the year
- Income tax for the year with federal and state added together. Social Security and Medicare are not part of this figure — they are payroll taxes, not income tax.
- Income after tax
- What is left of your income after federal and state income tax. It is not take-home pay: payroll taxes, retirement contributions and health premiums still come out of it.
- Taxable income
- The slice of income the federal brackets actually apply to: your income minus the deduction you get.
- Deduction used
- The deduction the calculator applied, and where it came from — the standard amount for your filing status, or your itemized total when that is larger.
- Federal income tax
- Federal income tax for the year, built bracket by bracket from 10% up.
- State income tax
- State income tax at the flat rate you entered, applied to your whole income. Real state tax uses the state's own brackets, exemptions and credits.
- Federal effective rate
- Federal income tax divided by gross income — the average federal rate you pay on every dollar you earned.
- Effective tax rate
- Federal plus state income tax divided by gross income. It is always lower than your marginal rate because only your top dollars are taxed at the top rate.
- Marginal tax rate
- The federal bracket your last dollar of taxable income lands in: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% or 37%. It is the rate on your next dollar of income, and it reads 0% when taxable income is zero.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use this instead of tax software?
Use it as an estimate, not tax advice. It applies the 2026 federal brackets and standard deductions to ordinary income, so it is close for a simple return — but credits, phase-outs, capital gains rates, the self-employment tax and state brackets all change the answer. For a return you actually file, use IRS instructions and forms or a tax professional.
What is the difference between marginal and effective tax rate?
The marginal rate is the bracket your last dollar falls in and applies only to additional income. The effective rate is total tax divided by total income, so it blends every bracket. A single filer with $100,000 of income sits in the 22% bracket but pays about 13.6% of income in federal tax, and the gap widens as income rises.
Why is Social Security and Medicare missing from the total?
Because they are payroll taxes, not income tax. FICA is 6.2% for Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base plus 1.45% for Medicare, withheld from each paycheck, and it is reported separately from income tax on your return. This page keeps the two apart on purpose; the paycheck calculator adds them together for a take-home figure.
What state tax rate should I enter?
Your effective rate — last year's state income tax divided by your gross income — is the closest single number, because a flat rate cannot reproduce a state's brackets. Nine states levy no tax on wages, several use one flat rate between about 3% and 5.5%, and the highest marginal rates top 13%. Leave it at 0% to see the federal picture alone.
Does a higher salary ever cost me money in tax?
No. Only the dollars inside the higher bracket are taxed at the higher rate, so a raise always leaves you with more after tax, never less. Crossing from the 12% to the 22% bracket does not reprice the income below it — the brackets are stacked, which is exactly what the slice-by-slice table above shows.