Methodology

Scope

Valanta estimates tax year 2026 for a single filer, a married couple filing jointly, or a married person filing separately, whose income is annual W-2-style employee wages. A joint return assumes the entered income is the household's only income. It is an educational scenario tool, not tax preparation software, and it does not provide tax, legal, or financial advice. Amounts on this page come from the same rule data the calculator uses.

Federal income tax

Federal taxable income is annual wages minus the standard deduction for the filing status ($16,100 single; $32,200 married filing jointly; $16,100 married filing separately), but never less than $0. Each marginal rate then applies only to the slice of taxable income inside its bracket. The separate-filer thresholds are half of the joint thresholds.

Employee payroll taxes

• Social Security: 6.2% of wages up to an annual wage base of $184,500.
• Medicare: 1.45% of all wages.
• Additional Medicare: 0.9% of wages above $200,000 (single); $250,000 (married filing jointly); $125,000 (married filing separately).

Only the employee's share is included. Employer payroll taxes are not.

State individual income tax

Every state and the District of Columbia has an explicit coverage status. 9 have “No state income tax”, 33 are “Yes, included” (state income tax is calculated and included in the estimate), and 9 are “Not yet included”. A state without a reviewed rule is never shown as $0: its state amount is left out and the calculator says so. A state is presented as included only when its rule is implemented and every source it cites has been reviewed.

The federal standard deduction above applies only to the federal income tax calculation. Each state's own estimate starts from a different base: some states apply their own standard deduction or personal exemption to gross wages, some tax federal taxable income directly (which already reflects the federal standard deduction), and others tax gross wages with no deduction at all, as shown in the table below.

Totals and take-home pay

• Federal-plus-payroll estimated net subtotal = annual income − federal income tax − employee Social Security − Medicare − Additional Medicare. It is always available and never includes state tax.
• Total taxes = federal and payroll taxes + state income tax. It is shown as a full total only when a state amount exists.
• Estimated take-home pay = annual income − total taxes; the monthly figure is the annual figure ÷ 12.
• Effective tax rate = total taxes ÷ annual income, shown only when income is above $0. When state income tax is not included, the calculator shows the effective rate for the included (federal and payroll) taxes instead, and labels it that way.
• Every amount is rounded to the nearest cent.