Federal Income Tax Calculator
Enter your income, filing status and deduction to estimate US federal income tax for 2025 or 2026. See the tax in every bracket, and the gap between your marginal rate and the rate you actually pay.
Estimate your federal tax
Brackets and the standard deduction are set per year. This picks which year’s published figures to use.
Wages, self-employment profit and interest — everything taxed at ordinary rates, before any deductions.
Traditional 401(k), deductible IRA and HSA money for the year. These come off before the brackets apply. Use 0 if none.
Your top rate is 22%, but you pay 11.61% of your total income. Those two numbers are different because only the last slice of income meets the top rate.
- Marginal rate
- 22%
- Effective rate
- 11.61%
- Income after federal tax
- $75,130
- Adjusted gross income
- $85,000
- Standard deduction
- $16,100
- Taxable income
- $68,900
| Rate | Taxable income in this band | Your income here | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 | $12,400 | $1,240 |
| 12% | $12,400 – $50,400 | $38,000 | $4,560 |
| 22% | $50,400 – $105,700 | $18,500 | $4,070 |
| 24% | $105,700 – $201,775 | $0 | $0 |
| 32% | $201,775 – $256,225 | $0 | $0 |
| 35% | $256,225 – $640,600 | $0 | $0 |
| 37% | $640,600 and above | $0 | $0 |
Another $36,800 of taxable income would take you into the next bracket. Only the income above that line is taxed at the higher rate.
Federal tax only. State, city and local income taxes are not included, so unless you live in one of the states with no income tax, your real total is higher than this.
Every 2026 figure used above, and the document it was read from:
- IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 verified 27 July 2026
How federal income tax is calculated
Federal income tax is progressive: income is sliced into bands and each band is taxed at its own rate. Pre-tax contributions come off first, then the standard or itemised deduction, and what remains — taxable income — is walked through the bands from the bottom up.
AGI = Total income − Pre-tax contributions
Taxable income = max(AGI − Deduction, 0)
Tax = Σ (income in each band × that band’s rate)
Effective rate = Tax ÷ Total income
Marginal rate = the rate the next dollar would meet- AGI
- Adjusted gross income
- Deduction
- The standard deduction for your filing status, or an itemised total you enter
- Band
- One bracket of the IRS rate table for that year
The marginal rate is derived from the bracket thresholds rather than read off the last band used, because the two disagree at an exact threshold. Taxable income landing precisely on the top of the 12% band was taxed at 12% on its last dollar and would meet 22% on the next. Below the standard deduction the marginal rate is reported as 0%, because the next dollar earned is still shielded.
$100,000 of income, single, 2026
A single filer with $100,000 of income and no pre-tax contributions subtracts the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100, leaving $83,900 of taxable income. The first $12,400 is taxed at 10% ($1,240), the next $38,000 at 12% ($4,560), and the remaining $33,500 at 22% ($7,370) — a total of $13,170. These figures are pinned by a unit test, so they cannot drift away from what the calculator above returns.
That is a 22% marginal rate and a 13.17% effective rate on gross income. The 8.83-point gap between them is the whole point of a progressive system, and it is why “I’m in the 22% bracket” and “I pay 22% tax” are different statements.
What this calculator assumes
- Federal tax only. State, city and local income taxes are not modelled, so the real total is higher almost everywhere.
- All income is taxed at ordinary rates. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividends have their own lower rate schedule, which this does not apply.
- No tax credits of any kind — not the child tax credit, the earned income credit, or education and energy credits. Credits come off after the tax is computed and would lower the figure.
- No phase-outs. Deductions and thresholds that taper away at higher incomes are applied in full or not at all.
- Payroll tax is not included on this page. Social Security and Medicare are separate from income tax — the take-home pay calculator covers both.
- The tax year comes from the figures in the data module, never from your device’s clock.
Calculators that pair with this one
- Tax bracket calculator — which band your income lands in, and how much sits in each.
- Effective tax rate calculator — total tax over total income, once you add payroll and state tax to this figure.
- Take-home pay calculator — the same brackets plus FICA, turned into a paycheck.
- Capital gains tax calculator — for the investment income this page deliberately does not rate.
Federal income tax FAQ
What is the difference between a marginal and an effective tax rate?
Your marginal rate is the rate the next dollar you earn would be taxed at — the top bracket your taxable income reaches. Your effective rate is the total tax divided by your total income. Because the lower brackets tax the first slices of income at lower rates, the effective rate is always below the marginal rate. Someone in the 22% bracket typically pays an effective rate closer to 12%.
Does moving into a higher tax bracket mean all my income is taxed at that rate?
No. Only the income above the bracket threshold is taxed at the higher rate; everything below it is still taxed at the lower rates. This calculator shows the tax in each band separately, so you can see exactly how much of your income met each rate. A raise can never leave you with less money after tax.
Which year's brackets does this use?
You choose. The calculator carries the 2025 and 2026 rate tables and standard deductions, each with the IRS document it was read from and the date a person checked it. The year never comes from your device's clock, so on 1 January the page does not start claiming next year's figures before the IRS has published them.
Does this include state income tax?
No. This is federal tax only. Most states levy their own income tax with their own brackets, credits and rules, and a few levy none at all — so unless you live in a no-income-tax state, your real total is higher than the figure here. Nothing on this site estimates state tax.
Should I take the standard deduction or itemise?
You take whichever is larger. Since 2018 the standard deduction has been high enough that most filers take it without itemising. Enter an itemised total in the advanced box to compare: if the standard deduction beats it, the calculator says so rather than silently swapping your number for a bigger one.
Are tax credits included?
No. Credits — the child tax credit, the earned income credit, education and energy credits — come off the tax after it is calculated, and they are not modelled here. A filer eligible for credits owes less than this figure, sometimes much less.
Sources and review notes
- IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — 2026 rate tables and standard deduction
- IRS — Federal income tax rates and brackets
Every bracket and deduction used above carries its own citation and verification date, shown beside the result. Formula implementation is covered by deterministic unit tests. No tax professional review is claimed yet.