Income Tax Calculator

No. The rate applies only to the slice of income inside that band, never to the whole amount. A single filer with $50,500 of taxable income pays 22% on $100 of it and 12% or 10% on the rest. A raise can never leave you with less after tax, and the bracket table in your result shows exactly how much income fell in each band and what each band cost.

The marginal rate is what the next dollar is taxed at; the effective rate is the total tax divided by total income. They are very different numbers. A single filer on $250,000 has a 32% marginal rate but pays an effective rate of about 20.5%, because the first $201,775 of taxable income was taxed in lower bands on the way up.

Whichever is larger, and this calculator picks for you: enter your itemized total and it compares. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for joint filers, which is a high bar — most filers do not have enough deductible mortgage interest, state and local tax and charitable giving to beat it, and take the standard deduction instead.

Because the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act of July 2025 changed them. It made the seven rates permanent and made the increased standard deduction permanent while raising the base amounts further. The figures used here come from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, the IRS procedure that sets the inflation-adjusted amounts for tax year 2026, so they reflect the law as amended rather than a projection of the older schedule.

Quite a lot, deliberately. It computes the ordinary federal income tax only. It does not model tax credits such as the child tax credit, the alternative minimum tax, Social Security and Medicare payroll tax, self-employment tax, the lower rates on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends, the qualified business income deduction, or any state or local tax. Your actual bill will differ, usually downward once credits apply. One omission matters more than the rest: if you are 65 or older, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act added a $6,000 deduction per qualifying individual for 2025 through 2028, phasing out above $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($150,000 filing jointly). That is separate from — and roughly three times the size of — the age addition this calculator does apply, and it is not included here because the phase-out turns on figures the form does not collect.

Almost, but not quite, and the difference is at the top. The two schedules are identical up to $256,225 of taxable income. Above that, a separate filer reaches the 37% rate at $384,350 while a single filer does not reach it until $640,600. Filing separately also restricts or removes several credits and deductions this calculator does not model.