Federal Income Tax Calculator
U.S. Flagship #08Tax & IncomeEstimate your federal income tax.
Income & deductions
Enter your income to see your federal tax.
Advanced options
Enter your income to see your federal tax.
2026 federal brackets — Single
| Rate | Taxable income over |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 |
| 12% | $12,400 |
| 22% | $50,400 |
| 24% | $105,700 |
| 32% | $201,775 |
| 35% | $256,225 |
| 37% | $640,600 |
Your inputs
| Input | What it is | Your value |
|---|---|---|
| Annual wages (W-2) | Gross W-2 salary before tax | $0 |
| Filing status | Sets your brackets, deduction & thresholds | Single |
| Tax year | The tax year's brackets and limits | 2026 |
| Deduction | Standard or itemized deduction | Standard |
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- United States federal income tax
- Rules and time period
- Tax years 2024–2026; the selected year controls the rules.
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only, not a tax return or filing determination. U.S. statutory-threshold tools use USD. Confirm current law and your facts with the relevant authority or a qualified tax professional.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Set the tax year — 2024, 2025 or 2026 — and your filing status; that pair fixes the federal rate schedule, the standard deduction and the surtax thresholds the rest of the estimate uses.
- 02
Put in your annual W-2 wages, then expand Advanced options for investment income, other ordinary income, above-the-line adjustments, non-refundable credits and any federal tax already withheld.
- 03
Leave the standard deduction selected or switch to itemized and enter your total — the calculator compares both and keeps whichever produces the lower federal tax.
- 04
Read the results: federal income tax tier by tier, the AMT, NIIT and Additional Medicare surtaxes, your total federal liability, effective and marginal rates, refund or amount owed, and federal take-home pay by month, week and day.
Formula
Think of the calculator as filling in a Form 1040 from the top down, federal only. Your wages, investment income and other ordinary income add up to gross income; removing any above-the-line adjustments leaves adjusted gross income (AGI), the number the rest of the return keys off. Against AGI you apply one deduction — whichever is larger, the flat standard amount (for a single filer in 2025, $15,750) or your itemized total — and what remains is taxable income. The federal rate schedule then charges that income in tiers of 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 37%, each tier reaching only the dollars that fall within it, which is why the rate on your last dollar always overstates the share you actually pay. A parallel Alternative Minimum Tax is checked and the larger of the two stands; non-refundable credits then come off, a dollar of credit erasing a dollar of tax. For higher earners two surtaxes attach to the bill — a 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax on investment earnings and a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages past the threshold — and the three together make up your total federal liability, the figure your withholding is measured against. Separately the tool computes employee Social Security and Medicare so it can show federal take-home pay. No state or local tax enters anywhere, and every output is an estimate.
Example
Picture a single filer in 2025 whose only income is $90,000 in wages and who claims the standard deduction. Removing the $15,750 standard amount leaves $74,250 of taxable income. The federal schedule then charges it in tiers: 10% on the first $11,925 is $1,192.50, 12% on the next $36,550 is $4,386.00, and 22% on the last $25,775 — the only part that reaches the third tier — is $5,670.50, for a federal income tax of $11,249. Although the next dollar would be taxed at 22% (the marginal rate), the bill works out to just 12.5% of the $90,000 (the federal income-tax rate), because the first two tiers carried most of the income at 10% and 12%. The surtaxes stay dormant here: wages are well under the $200,000 line, so no Additional Medicare Tax applies; there is no investment income to trigger the Net Investment Income Tax; and AGI sits far below the AMT phase-out, so there is no AMT. Employee FICA still comes out — $5,580 for Social Security at 6.2% and $1,305 for Medicare at 1.45%, $6,885 in all — so the total federal tax is $11,249 + $6,885 = $18,134, near 20.1% of gross pay. Federal take-home lands around $71,866 for the year, roughly $5,989 a month, before any state tax or benefits are subtracted. Treat the figures as planning estimates.
Definitions
- Gross income
- The full tally of what you earned before any subtraction — pay, interest, dividends, realized gains and other taxable receipts. The calculator treats it as line one of the federal return, the figure that adjustments then whittle down toward AGI.
- Adjusted gross income (AGI)
- What is left once above-the-line adjustments — deductible retirement and HSA contributions, student-loan interest and the like — come off gross income. Federal phase-outs and both surtax thresholds are measured against AGI, and your deduction is subtracted from it.
- Taxable income
- The income the federal rate tiers actually reach: AGI less your standard or itemized deduction, floored at zero. For the calculator's $90,000 single filer taking the standard deduction it works out to $74,250 — well under the $90,000 salary.
- Standard deduction
- A fixed subtraction that needs no documentation, set by filing status and nudged for inflation each year. For 2025: $15,750 (single or married filing separately), $31,500 (married filing jointly) and $23,625 (head of household).
- Itemized deductions
- An alternative to the standard amount in which you total specific federal write-offs — capped state-and-local taxes, home-mortgage interest, charitable gifts and out-of-pocket medical costs above an AGI floor. Worth choosing only when the total clears your standard deduction.
- Marginal tax rate
- The percentage the federal schedule would charge on one more dollar of taxable income — your highest occupied tier, from 10% to 37%. It governs the tax on a raise or a Roth conversion, not on your income as a whole.
- Effective tax rate
- The single percentage your tax represents once spread across all your income. Because the lower tiers fill first at their gentler rates, it lands beneath your marginal rate — about 12.5% in income tax for the $90,000 single example.
- Federal income tax
- The output of the brackets (or the AMT, whichever is larger) after non-refundable credits are deducted. It is the backbone of the federal bill, but the surtaxes and payroll taxes are tallied apart from it.
- Federal tax liability
- The Form 1040 bottom line — federal income tax plus the Net Investment Income Tax and the Additional Medicare Tax. Your withholding and estimated payments are netted against this number to land on a refund or a balance due.
- FICA (Social Security & Medicare)
- Mandatory federal payroll withholding split between Social Security (6.2% up to a yearly wage ceiling) and Medicare (1.45% on every dollar). It funds those two programs directly, bypasses the brackets, and trims your take-home pay regardless of your deductions.
- Additional Medicare Tax
- A 0.9% surcharge on earned income — wages and self-employment — above $200,000 (single or head of household), $250,000 (married filing jointly) or $125,000 (married filing separately). Only the earnings over the line are charged, and the amount is reconciled on your return.
- Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)
- A 3.8% levy aimed at investment income — interest, dividends, gains and similar — once AGI passes the same $200,000 / $250,000 / $125,000 marks. It charges the smaller of your investment income and your excess over the threshold, and nothing below.
- Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
- A second tax computation with a large exemption and flat 26%/28% rates, built to keep heavily-sheltered high earners from paying too little. You owe it only when it tops your regular tax; since the 2017 law's larger exemption, almost no one does.
- Withholding, refund & amount owed
- Withholding is the federal tax your employer remits from each check under your W-4. Set beside your liability, an overpayment returns as a refund and a shortfall becomes a balance due — both estimates here, not your filed result.
Good to know
The federal layer this calculator isolates
Most Americans pay several kinds of tax on the same dollar — federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and in most places a state or local income tax on top. This calculator deliberately pulls out a single strand of that knot: the federal one. By holding state and local tax aside, it lets you see the federal layer on its own terms, which is exactly how the Internal Revenue Service assembles your bill on Form 1040. Everything here traces that one form, from your first dollar of income to the refund or balance you settle in spring. Why isolate it? Because the federal layer has its own internal logic that gets obscured when state tax is blended in. Federal tax starts wide, at gross income, then narrows through a sequence of subtractions to a smaller taxable figure, runs that figure through a national rate schedule shared by every filer in your status, and finally layers on a few surtaxes that reach only higher earners. State systems rewrite almost every step of that — different deductions, different rates, different thresholds — so mixing them in turns a legible calculation into mush. The calculator keeps the strands visible. It shows your federal income tax, the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, and the surtaxes that turn the income tax into a total federal liability, each on its own line. It then nets that liability against the federal tax already withheld from your paychecks to project a refund or amount owed, and it converts what is left into federal take-home pay across the year. What it will not do is pretend to know your state's rules; for that you would add a state calculator and read the two together. Treat every figure as an estimate built from the current year's federal rules — a planning tool, not a substitute for filing or for professional advice.
From gross pay to taxable income: the federal subtractions
The federal return is a funnel: a wide opening at gross income narrows, through two subtractions, to the taxable figure the rates finally reach. Getting those two subtractions right is most of the work, so it helps to see them clearly. The first subtraction takes gross income — your wages plus interest, dividends, gains and any other taxable receipts — and removes your above-the-line adjustments. These are specific items the law lets you deduct before anything else: deductible contributions to a traditional IRA or health savings account, the deductible half of self-employment tax, student-loan interest and a handful of others. What you are left with is adjusted gross income, or AGI, and it is the pivotal intermediate number on the return because so many later limits — including both surtax thresholds and the AMT phase-out — are measured against it rather than against your salary. The second subtraction is your deduction. Here you take the larger of two options: the standard deduction, a flat amount tied to your filing status, or your itemized deductions, the sum of certain federal write-offs. Most filers take the standard amount and move on; those with large mortgage interest, high state taxes or major charitable gifts may come out ahead itemizing. Whichever you use, subtracting it from AGI yields taxable income, the base the rate schedule is applied to — usually far below the salary you began with. For the calculator's default single filer with $90,000 of wages and the 2025 standard deduction, the funnel runs $90,000 of gross income, no adjustments, $90,000 of AGI, minus $15,750, to $74,250 of taxable income. That gap between $90,000 and $74,250 is the deduction at work, and it is why two people on identical salaries can owe different federal tax: their adjustments and deductions, not their paychecks, set the base. The calculator shows each stage of the funnel so you can see precisely where your income goes before a single bracket is applied.
Tiered rates and your true federal rate
The federal income tax is built from seven tiers — 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 37% — and the single most useful thing to grasp about them is that a tier's rate applies only to the income that lands inside it. Earning enough to reach the 22% tier does not re-tax your earlier dollars at 22%; it charges 22% on the slice above that tier's floor and nothing more. This is why nudging into a higher bracket can never shrink your after-tax income, and why the fear of being bumped into the next bracket is misplaced. The calculator's default makes the mechanic concrete. A single filer with $74,250 of taxable income in 2025 fills the tiers in order: the first $11,925 is charged 10% ($1,192.50), the next $36,550 is charged 12% ($4,386.00), and only the remaining $25,775 reaches the 22% tier ($5,670.50). Those three slices sum to $11,249 of federal income tax. The bulk of the income never left the 10% and 12% tiers; only the top piece felt 22%. That split is what separates the two rates worth knowing. Your marginal rate — 22% here — is what the next dollar would cost, the right number for weighing a raise, a bonus or a retirement-account conversion. Your effective rate — about 12.5% here, $11,249 over $90,000 — is what you actually pay on average, the right number for judging your overall burden or comparing one year against another. The effective rate trails the marginal rate by design, because the cheap tiers always fill first. The bracket card in this calculator shows every tier you occupy, the income sitting in each, the tax it generates and a cumulative running total, and it points out how much more taxable income you could earn before the next tier begins — a small but practical guide when you are deciding whether to realize extra income this year or defer it.
The federal deduction decision
One choice on the federal return quietly moves more money than almost any other: standard or itemized. You may use one but never both, and the rule for picking is purely arithmetic — claim the larger subtraction and pay federal tax on less income. The standard deduction is the path of least resistance. It is a set figure, fixed by your filing status and indexed upward each year, that asks for no receipts and no schedules. For 2025 it is $15,750 for single and married-filing-separately filers, $31,500 for married couples filing jointly, and $23,625 for heads of household. Because it is generous after the 2017 law roughly doubled it, the great majority of filers find nothing better and simply take it. Itemizing is the alternative for people whose specific federal write-offs add up to more. The categories that usually drive the decision are home-mortgage interest, state and local taxes (deductible only up to a federal dollar cap), gifts to qualified charities, and unreimbursed medical costs above a percentage-of-AGI floor. A homeowner in a high-tax state with a sizable mortgage and a habit of giving can clear the standard deduction comfortably; a renter without large charitable gifts rarely will. The cap on state-and-local taxes is the swing factor for many, since it limits how much of that often-large category actually counts. The calculator spares you the manual comparison: enter your itemized total and it computes the federal tax both ways, applies whichever is lower, and displays the two side by side with the difference between them. That comparison earns its keep in years when you are near the line — a big medical event, a major donation or a move to a higher-tax area can flip the answer from one year to the next. As always, the figure is an estimate; confirm the specifics, especially the caps and floors, before you rely on it at filing time.
Federal credits: a discount on the tax itself
Deductions and credits both lower what you pay the federal government, but they work at different stages and with very different force. A deduction shrinks the income that gets taxed, so its value depends on your bracket — a $1,000 deduction saves a 22%-bracket filer about $220. A credit is applied later, straight against the tax the brackets produced, so a $1,000 credit cuts the bill by the full $1,000 no matter your rate. That makes credits the most powerful line on most returns, and it is why they come off after the brackets and the AMT have already settled a tentative tax. The federal code offers many. The Child Tax Credit reaches the most households, worth a set amount per qualifying child. The American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits defray tuition. The Child and Dependent Care Credit offsets the cost of care that lets you work, the Saver's Credit rewards modest retirement contributions, and clean-energy credits cover qualifying vehicles and home upgrades. Each carries its own eligibility tests and income phase-outs, which is why no general calculator can reproduce them all precisely. The distinction that matters most is refundable versus non-refundable. A non-refundable credit can drive your tax to zero but not past it — any excess is forfeited or, for some credits, carried to a later year. A refundable credit can go below zero and pay you the surplus as part of your refund. This calculator treats whatever credit total you enter as a single non-refundable amount: it subtracts it from your federal income tax and stops at zero, never below. That keeps the estimate conservative and transparent, but it means the tool understates genuinely refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. Enter the credits you expect, watch the summary show the tax before and after, and confirm each credit's amount and refundability against the IRS instructions before filing — the rules shift yearly and the dollars are large.
The surtaxes that build your total federal liability
For most filers the brackets are the end of the federal income-tax story, but three additional computations can change the number, and understanding them is what separates federal income tax from total federal liability. The calculator estimates all three. First is the Alternative Minimum Tax, a parallel system designed long ago to stop high earners from stacking enough deductions to owe almost nothing. It widens the income base, grants a single large exemption that fades as income climbs, and applies flat 26% and 28% rates; you compare it with your regular tax and pay whichever is larger. After the 2017 law lifted the exemption sharply, the AMT now catches very few people. This tool estimates it by treating AMT income as your AGI — exact for standard-deduction filers, a deliberately cautious ceiling for itemizers — so read any AMT it flags as a reason to look closer, not a verdict. Second is the Net Investment Income Tax, a 3.8% charge that targets earnings from capital. It switches on only once your AGI passes $200,000 (single), $250,000 (married filing jointly) or $125,000 (married filing separately), and it applies to the lesser of your investment income and the amount you cleared the threshold — so a small crossing yields a small surtax, and below the line it is nothing. Third is the Additional Medicare Tax, an extra 0.9% on earned income — wages and self-employment, not investment income — above those same thresholds. Unlike base Medicare, which is uncapped and flat, this slice is aimed at high earners and reaches only the wages over the line; an employer begins withholding it once your pay with them tops $200,000, and your return trues up the rest. When any of these apply, they stack onto your post-credit income tax to form your total federal liability — the figure your withholding is actually measured against. All three are estimates here, and high earners in particular should confirm them with a professional.
FICA and what federal take-home really means
Your federal income tax is only one bite out of a paycheck; the other federal bite is FICA, the payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. It is withheld next to your income tax but runs on entirely separate rules, and because it is charged on wages rather than on taxable income, your deduction and your bracket do nothing to change it. Social Security is the larger piece for most workers: 6.2% of wages, but only up to a yearly ceiling that climbs over time — $168,600 for 2024, $176,100 for 2025, then $184,500 for 2026. Once your year-to-date wages pass that cap, Social Security withholding switches off until January, which is why some high earners watch their net pay rise late in the year. Medicare is the second piece: 1.45% of wages with no ceiling at all, so every dollar carries it. For the calculator's single filer on $90,000, that is $5,580 of Social Security and $1,305 of Medicare — $6,885 of employee FICA riding alongside the income tax. Keep in mind this is just your half. Your employer pays a matching 6.2% and 1.45% from its own funds, so the Treasury collects roughly double what your stub shows, though the employer does not match the 0.9% Additional Medicare surtax. The calculator reports only what is withheld from you, because that is what sets your actual take-home. That is the purpose of the take-home section: it subtracts your federal income tax and your FICA from gross income and then spreads the remainder across the year — annual, monthly, biweekly, weekly and per working day — so you can see a federal-only paycheck at a glance. One caveat worth repeating: this figure stops at the federal line. Your real deposit will be smaller still once any state and local income tax, retirement contributions and benefit premiums come out, so treat the federal take-home as a ceiling rather than the number that hits your bank.
Withholding, refunds, and the federal-only boundary
The federal system runs on a pay-as-you-go principle: you are meant to pay tax across the year, not in a lump at filing. For employees that happens through withholding — your employer estimates the federal income tax due on each check, guided by the Form W-4 you submitted, and forwards it to the IRS. Filing a return then mostly reconciles what you have already paid with what you truly owe, rather than presenting a surprise. That framing demystifies refunds and balances due. A refund is not a bonus from the government; it is the return of your own money because your withholding ran ahead of your liability — in effect, an interest-free loan you made to the Treasury. A balance due is the reverse: your withholding fell short, and a large enough gap can carry an underpayment penalty. The target most people actually want is to finish near zero, having paid close to their true liability as the year went. The calculator makes that gap visible. Enter the federal tax withheld and it weighs it against your total federal liability — income tax plus any NIIT and Additional Medicare Tax — and reports both the dollar refund or amount owed and the percentage of your liability the withholding covers. If you are banking a large refund every spring, you can lift your take-home by dialing withholding down on a fresh W-4; if you keep owing, you can withhold more or make quarterly estimated payments. It is a planning check, not the final reconciliation, since it does not know every credit or other payment that will appear on your actual return. And it stops at the federal border on purpose. No state or local income tax enters this calculation, investment income is taxed at ordinary rather than preferential rates, only the employee share of FICA is modeled, and credits are treated as non-refundable. Those are the deliberate edges of a fast federal estimator — useful within them, and no replacement for the IRS, tax software or a professional when you file. This calculator does not provide tax advice.
Frequently asked questions
What does this federal income tax calculator include — and leave out?
It estimates only the federal side of your taxes and does so end to end: it walks gross income down to AGI, applies the standard or itemized deduction, runs taxable income through the brackets, layers in a simplified AMT, subtracts non-refundable credits, adds the Net Investment Income Tax and Additional Medicare Tax to reach your total federal liability, and nets that against withholding for a refund or balance due. It also estimates employee Social Security and Medicare so it can show federal take-home pay. Left out by design: state and local income tax, self-employment tax, and the preferential rates on long-term gains. Every number is an estimate.
How do federal tax brackets work?
Federal rates are tiered, not flat: each rate reaches only the band of taxable income it covers, so crossing into a higher bracket lifts the rate solely on the dollars above the cutoff — never on what you already earned. A raise therefore always leaves you with more after tax, never less. The calculator lays out every tier you reach, how much income sits in each, the tax it produces and a running cumulative, and it tells you how far you are from the next tier.
What's the difference between my marginal and effective federal rate?
The marginal rate names the tier your next dollar would land in; the effective rate is the average — your federal income tax spread across your whole income. The average is always the lower number, because your earliest dollars are charged in the cheapest tiers before any reach the top one. The single filer earning $90,000 in 2025 sits in the 22% tier yet pays about $11,249 — roughly a 12.5% effective income-tax rate. Plan around the marginal figure; judge your burden by the effective one.
Should I take the standard deduction or itemize federally?
Compare the two and use the bigger subtraction. The standard deduction is a fixed figure for your status — $15,750 single in 2025 — that needs no paperwork. Itemizing instead sums specific costs like mortgage interest, capped state-and-local taxes and charitable gifts, and only wins when those total more. Because most filers fall short of that bar, the calculator defaults to the standard deduction and switches to itemized only when the total you enter produces a lower federal tax, showing both so you can see the margin.
What is my total federal tax liability?
It is the Form 1040 total: your federal income tax after credits and any AMT, plus the Net Investment Income Tax and the Additional Medicare Tax. That figure — not the bracket tax alone — is what your withholding and estimated payments settle against to produce a refund or balance due. The calculator also reports a wider total federal tax that folds in regular Social Security and Medicare, since those still leave your paycheck even though they sit outside the 1040 income-tax reconciliation.
How much federal tax should be withheld from my paycheck?
Aim for the year's withholding to land close to your total federal liability. Enter what has already been withheld and the calculator shows the share of your liability it covers and whether you are tracking toward a refund or a bill. A consistently fat refund signals over-withholding — money lent to the government at no interest — while repeated shortfalls can bring a balance due and sometimes an underpayment penalty. Tune the result by updating the W-4 you file with your employer.
Is FICA part of my federal income tax?
No — it is a separate federal payroll tax. Social Security (6.2% up to the wage ceiling) and Medicare (1.45% on all wages) fund those programs specifically rather than general revenue, sit entirely outside the income-tax brackets, and are untouched by your deduction or filing status. The calculator lists FICA on its own and rolls it into take-home pay because it genuinely shrinks your check, but it keeps it distinct from the income-tax math. Only the employee share is modeled — not the employer's match or self-employment tax.
Could I owe the Alternative Minimum Tax?
Possibly, but it is unlikely. The AMT recomputes your tax on a broader base with a big exemption and 26%/28% rates, and you pay it only when it exceeds your regular tax. The 2017 law's larger exemption pushed all but a sliver of filers out of its reach. This tool approximates AMT income as your AGI rather than running the full Form 6251, so any AMT it shows is a prompt to dig deeper with a professional, not a settled figure.
Who pays the Net Investment Income Tax?
Higher earners with investment income. The 3.8% surtax applies once your AGI clears $200,000 single, $250,000 married filing jointly or $125,000 married filing separately, and it hits the smaller of your net investment income — interest, dividends, capital gains and the like — or the amount you exceed that threshold. Stay below the line and it is zero. The calculator estimates it from the investment income you enter and stacks it onto your federal liability.
Does this calculator include state or local income tax?
No, and that is deliberate. State and local regimes differ so sharply — some tax wages not at all, others run brackets above 10%, each with its own rules — that bundling them would muddy the clean federal read this tool exists to give. For a combined picture, run a state calculator alongside it and stack the two results. In most states your real take-home will sit below the federal-only number shown here.
Why aren't my long-term capital gains taxed at lower rates here?
For a clear, consistent federal figure the calculator taxes every dollar — long-term gains and qualified dividends included — at ordinary bracket rates. In practice those usually qualify for preferential 0%, 15% or 20% federal rates, often well below ordinary rates, so the tool can overstate the tax on them. If gains and qualified dividends make up much of your income, treat this as a conservative ceiling and reach for a dedicated capital-gains calculator for a sharper number.
Which tax years are supported, and is this accurate enough to file?
Tax years 2024, 2025 and 2026 are selectable up top. The 2025 and 2026 figures fold in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — its larger standard deductions ($15,750 single and $31,500 joint in 2025, rising to $16,100 and $32,200 in 2026) and the faster AMT exemption phase-out. It is a planner, not a filing tool: it approximates the AMT, taxes investment income at ordinary rates, treats credits as non-refundable and omits state tax entirely. Use it to map your year, then confirm the exact numbers with the IRS, tax software or a preparer before filing.