2026 US federal income tax on your annual income. Results update as you type.
Federal income tax only. This page does not include state or local income tax, so your total tax bill may be higher once state and local taxes are added.
Simplified assumptions: only the standard deduction or the itemized amount you enter is applied, and no tax credits, capital gains rates, or additional deductions are included. Pre-tax deductions reduce taxable income here. Your actual return may differ.
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Results are estimates for education only and are not financial advice.
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Use this calculator to answer three questions: how much federal tax do I owe on this income, what is my real tax rate, and is my withholding roughly right? Enter your filing status, gross income, any pre-tax deductions, and the federal tax already withheld. Choose the standard deduction or enter an itemized amount. The calculator subtracts pre-tax deductions and then your deduction to get taxable income, applies the 2026 federal brackets slice by slice, and compares the result with your withholding to show a refund or an amount owed. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly.
The bracket system is the part most people misunderstand, so walk through it once. Take a single filer earning $60,000 with no pre-tax deductions who takes the standard deduction. Taxable income is $60,000 minus $16,100, which is $43,900. The tax is 10 percent of the first $12,400 ($1,240) plus 12 percent of the next $31,500 ($3,780), for a total of $5,020. The effective rate is $5,020 divided by $60,000, or 8.37 percent, and the marginal bracket is 12 percent. Nobody pays their marginal rate on all of their income. The lower slices are always taxed at lower rates, which is why the effective rate sits below the marginal rate whenever more than one bracket applies.
Pre-tax deductions save tax at your marginal rate, not your effective rate, and that distinction is worth money. Give the same $60,000 earner $5,000 of pre-tax deductions, for example 401(k) contributions. Taxable income falls to $38,900. The tax becomes 10 percent of $12,400 ($1,240) plus 12 percent of $26,500 ($3,180), for a total of $4,420. The saving is $600, which is exactly $5,000 times the 12 percent marginal rate. The same logic runs in reverse for extra income: a $1,000 bonus on top of this income is taxed at 12 percent, not at the 8.37 percent effective rate. Whenever you weigh a deduction or a raise, use the marginal rate.
Three mistakes show up often. First, people think moving into a higher bracket taxes all of their income at the higher rate. It does not. Only the slice above each threshold is taxed at that bracket's rate, so a raise never leaves you with less after-tax pay through brackets alone. Second, people forget this page covers federal tax only. State and local income tax are not included, so the total bill is higher once those are added. Third, people treat the result as their final return. The page states its simplified assumptions: only the standard or entered itemized deduction is applied, and no tax credits, capital gains rates, or additional deductions are included. Credits and capital gains treatment can change the real result, so use this page for planning and check the full rules before filing.
Usually because withholding did not keep up, or because the extra income was taxed at your marginal rate while withholding tables assumed a lower average. A higher income also phases out some benefits and can push more income into a higher slice. Compare the tax owed with the withholding on the page: if withholding lags the tax, the refund shrinks or turns into an amount owed, even though your pay went up.
A big refund means you overpaid during the year and lent the government money interest free. From a pure numbers view, adjusting withholding to land near zero is better. Some people still prefer a refund as forced saving, because money withheld never reaches their spending. Both views are reasonable. The mistake is not knowing which one you are doing: check withholding after any job change, marriage, or new dependent, instead of discovering it at filing time.
No. The page covers ordinary federal income tax under its stated simplified assumptions. Capital gains have their own rates, and credits reduce tax directly rather than reducing taxable income, so neither is modeled here. Add capital gains tax and subtract expected credits separately for a complete picture.
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