Tax Estimator Calculator

Use this free tax estimator calculator to estimate your 2026 federal income tax, effective tax rate, and take-home pay. Select your filing status, enter your gross income and deductions, and get an instant breakdown of your tax liability using the latest IRS 2026 tax brackets from Revenue Procedure 2025-32.

How to use this tax estimator calculator

1. Select your filing status — Single, Married Filing Jointly, or Head of Household. Your filing status determines both your standard deduction and the income thresholds for each tax bracket.
2. Enter your gross annual income — this is your total income before any deductions or taxes are taken out.
3. Enter your 401k or pre-tax contributions — these reduce your adjusted gross income and lower your taxable income. Include contributions to a traditional 401k, 403b, HSA, or other pre-tax accounts.
4. Enter any additional deductions — if you itemize deductions or have other above-the-line deductions, enter the total here. Leave as zero to use the standard deduction automatically.
5. Click Estimate My Tax to see your estimated federal tax owed, take-home pay, effective tax rate, marginal tax rate, and a full bracket-by-bracket breakdown of how your income is taxed.

Frequently asked questions

Q: What are the 2026 federal tax brackets?
A: For 2026, the IRS uses seven tax rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. For single filers the rates apply at thresholds of $12,400, $50,400, $105,700, $201,775, $256,225, and $640,600. For married filing jointly the thresholds are $24,800, $100,800, $211,400, $403,550, $512,450, and $768,700. These are inflation-adjusted figures from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32.

Q: What is the 2026 standard deduction?
A: For tax year 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for head of household. These amounts increased from 2025 due to inflation adjustments under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The standard deduction reduces your taxable income before any bracket calculations are applied.

Q: What is the difference between marginal and effective tax rate?
A: Your marginal tax rate is the rate applied to your last dollar of income — the highest bracket you fall into. Your effective tax rate is the average rate you pay across all your income. Because the US uses a progressive tax system, only the income within each bracket is taxed at that rate. For example, if you are in the 22% bracket, you do not pay 22% on all your income — only on the portion above the 12% bracket threshold.

Q: Does this calculator include Social Security and Medicare taxes?
A: No — this calculator estimates federal income tax only. FICA taxes (Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%) are separate and apply to earned income regardless of your bracket. State income tax is also not included as rates vary by state. Your actual take-home pay will be lower than shown once all payroll taxes are accounted for.

Q: How do pre-tax 401k contributions lower my 2026 taxes?
A: Traditional 401k contributions reduce your adjusted gross income dollar for dollar before federal income tax is calculated. For 2026, the 401k contribution limit is $23,500 (or $31,000 if you are age 50 or older with the catch-up contribution). Contributing the maximum can move you into a lower tax bracket and save thousands in federal taxes over the year.