Federal Income Tax Calculator
↻ Updated 2026Estimate your federal income tax for the 2026 tax year — with the standard or itemized deduction, your pre-tax contributions and a full per-bracket breakdown. Everything runs in your browser.
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Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is sent to us.How this works
How to read your federal income tax result
Three numbers, and only one of them is money. The tax is what you owe; the marginal rate is what your next dollar costs; the effective rate is what the whole year averaged out to. People quote their marginal rate and pay their effective rate, and on the defaults those differ by more than half — 22% versus 10.7%.
How your 2026 federal income tax is worked out
Income tax is charged on taxable income, not on your salary, and taxable income is what's left after two subtractions. Pre-tax contributions come out first, then either the standard deduction or your itemized total — whichever you select.
What remains is sliced across seven brackets. Each slice is taxed at its own rate and the results are added. This is the whole model: there is no formula that multiplies your income by one rate, which is exactly the misunderstanding the per-bracket panel exists to correct.
taxable income = gross income − pre-tax deductions − deduction tax = Σ (amount falling in each bracket × that bracket's rate) 2026 single brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32): 10% $0 – $12,400 12% $12,400 – $50,400 22% $50,400 – $105,700 24% $105,700 – $201,775 32% $201,775 – $256,225 35% $256,225 – $640,600 37% over $640,600 marginal rate = the rate of the bracket your last dollar lands in effective rate = tax ÷ gross income
- gross income
- Your total wages and salary before anything is taken out — the calculator treats this as ordinary income only — no capital gains, no self-employment income
- pre-tax deductions
- Traditional 401(k), HSA and deductible traditional IRA contributions — subtracted before the deduction; the 2026 elective 401(k) limit is $24,500 (IRS Notice 2025-67)
- deduction
- The standard deduction for your filing status, or your itemized total — 2026 standard deduction: $16,100 single and married filing separately, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household
- taxable income
- What the brackets are actually applied to — this — not gross income — decides your marginal rate
- marginal rate
- The rate charged on your next dollar of income — the top bracket you reach, not the rate you pay on average
- effective rate
- Total tax divided by gross income — measured against gross here, so pre-tax contributions push it down
One detail changes what the effective rate means. This calculator divides tax by gross income rather than by taxable income, so the $6,000 of pre-tax contributions in the defaults are counted as income you earned but didn't pay tax on. That's the honest reading of what the year cost you, and it's why the effective rate here runs lower than a calculator that divides by taxable income. The effective vs marginal rate calculator charts the same arithmetic bracket by bracket.
Itemising replaces the standard deduction rather than adding to it. Enter an itemized total below your standard deduction and the tool will use it anyway — it does not pick the larger of the two for you, because the segmented control is a statement of what you're claiming, not a question about which is better.
Worked examples
Example: $90,000 single, $6,000 into a 401(k)
The calculator's shipped defaults, so you can follow along on the page. Standard deduction, no itemising.
| Gross incomewages before anything | $90,000 |
| Less pre-tax deductionstraditional 401(k) | − $6,000 |
| Less standard deduction2026 single (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) | − $16,100 |
| Taxable incomewhat the brackets see | $67,900 |
| 10% bracket10% of the first $12,400 | $1,240 |
| 12% bracket12% of the next $38,000 | $4,560 |
| 22% bracket22% of the last $17,500 | $3,850 |
| Federal income tax$1,240 + $4,560 + $3,850 | $9,650 |
| Marginal ratewhere the last dollar landed | 22% |
| Effective rate$9,650 ÷ $90,000 | 10.7% |
$9,650 on $90,000 — an effective rate of 10.7% for someone who would tell you they're "in the 22% bracket". Only $17,500 of the $90,000 was ever taxed at 22%. The 22% figure is true and nearly useless as a description of the bill.
Example: the same person raises pre-tax contributions to $26,000
Nothing changes but the pre-tax slider — same salary, same filing status, same standard deduction. Watch what leaves the top of the stack.
| Taxable income$90,000 − $26,000 − $16,100 | $47,900 |
| 10% bracketunchanged — the bottom never moves | $1,240 |
| 12% bracket12% of $35,500 | $4,260 |
| 22% brackettaxable income no longer reaches $50,400 | — |
| Federal income taxdown from $9,650 | $5,500 |
| Marginal ratewas 22% | 12% |
| Tax savedfrom $20,000 more pre-tax | $4,150 |
$20,000 of extra contributions cut the tax by $4,150 — a 20.75% return on the deferral, not 22%. The first $17,500 came off at 22% and the remaining $2,500 only at 12%, because the deduction ate through the top bracket and then dropped into the next one down. Deductions are consumed from the top of the stack downward, which is why the saving from the last dollar deferred is always worth less than the saving from the first.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 2026 federal tax brackets?
Seven rates — 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37% — with thresholds set by IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32. For a single filer in 2026 the bands run to $12,400 at 10%, $50,400 at 12%, $105,700 at 22%, $201,775 at 24%, $256,225 at 32%, $640,600 at 35%, and 37% above that. Married filing jointly doubles the first five thresholds: $24,800, $100,800, $211,400, $403,550 and $512,450, then $768,700 before the top rate.
Head of household differs in a way that catches people: the bottom two bands are wider ($17,700 and $67,450), but from the 22% bracket up the thresholds match single filers almost exactly. Married filing separately takes precisely half the joint figures. The thresholds are inflation-indexed annually; the rates themselves are not, and were made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025.
Should I take the standard deduction or itemize in 2026?
Mechanically it's one comparison: itemising lowers your taxable income only if your itemized total exceeds your standard deduction, which for 2026 is $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Below that threshold, itemising raises your tax.
The reason the standard deduction usually wins is that it nearly doubled in 2017 and has been indexed upward ever since, while the largest itemized deductions were capped. A married couple needs more than $32,200 of mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable gifts and qualifying medical expenses combined before itemising changes anything. This calculator does not choose for you — pick "Itemized" and it uses the figure you type, even if it's lower than your standard deduction.
How much does contributing to a 401(k) reduce my taxes?
By the contribution multiplied by the rates it displaces, working down from the top of your bracket stack — not by a single flat rate. On this calculator's defaults, raising pre-tax contributions from $6,000 to $26,000 cuts the tax from $9,650 to $5,500. That's $4,150 saved on $20,000, or 20.75%, because $17,500 came off at 22% and the last $2,500 only at 12%.
Two caveats the tool doesn't show. The 2026 elective deferral limit is $24,500, with an $8,000 catch-up at 50 and $11,250 for ages 60–63 (IRS Notice 2025-67), so the $70,000 slider ceiling is well past what one 401(k) allows. And the deferral reduces income tax only — 401(k) contributions remain subject to Social Security and Medicare tax in the year you earn them. Roth contributions produce no deduction at all and belong nowhere in this field. Compare the two in the traditional vs Roth calculator.
Do I pay FICA taxes on my 401(k) contributions?
Yes — and it's the most common blind spot in a calculator like this one, which models income tax and nothing else. Pre-tax 401(k) deferrals reduce federal income tax but remain wages for Social Security and Medicare, so the full 6.2% and 1.45% are withheld on money you never paid income tax on (IRS, Retirement Plan FAQs regarding contributions). Roth deferrals are treated identically for FICA.
The practical consequence: on the $90,000 default, the $9,650 shown here is not the total federal withholding from those paychecks. Employee FICA on $90,000 adds $6,885 on top. Employer matching contributions are the exception — those escape FICA entirely. The take-home paycheck calculator combines both sides.
What this federal income tax calculator leaves out
This models one line of a 1040: ordinary income against the 2026 brackets. Several things that decide a real tax bill are outside it.
- Credits — There are none. The Child Tax Credit, education credits and the Earned Income Tax Credit all reduce tax after this calculation, and unlike deductions they come off the tax itself rather than off income — a $2,000 credit beats a $2,000 deduction at every income level. The tax-refund estimator has a credits field; this one doesn't.
- Payroll and state tax — Federal income tax only. FICA takes 7.65% of wages up to the $184,500 Social Security wage base and 1.45% above it, and most states levy their own income tax on top. The effective rate shown here is not the share of your income that goes to tax.
- Anything other than ordinary income — Long-term capital gains and qualified dividends have their own 0/15/20% schedule and are not modelled here. Entering an investment gain in the income field taxes it at ordinary rates, which will overstate the tax for most long-term holdings.
- Marginal rate when deductions wipe out your income — If your deductions exceed your income — say $10,000 of gross against the $16,100 standard deduction — the tax is $0 and the marginal rate reads 10%: the rate the next dollar of taxable income would meet. That is the honest answer to "what does my next dollar cost", but it isn't a claim that you're in the 10% bracket. You have no taxable income at all.
- The itemized figure is yours to defend — The tool accepts whatever total you enter and applies no caps. Real itemized deductions have limits — the state and local tax deduction chief among them — and this calculator checks none of them.
- ·IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — 2026 inflation adjustments — Tax year 2026 brackets & standard deduction
Rates, brackets and limits here are checked against primary sources. If a number still looks off, email support@realmoneyiq.com and we'll review and fix it.
RealMoneyIQ provides free educational calculators, not financial, tax, investment or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the assumptions you enter and publicly published rates; your actual outcome will differ. Always confirm decisions with a licensed professional who knows your full situation.