Federal income tax calculator that estimates tax owed by filing status, tax brackets, and standard deductions. Free, private, runs in your browser, no signup.
Updates automatically as you type.
Calculated in your browser; your inputs are not sent to us. Privacy
Results will appear here.
✓Basic automated checks passed. Formula accuracy is not established by these checks. See check scope and results
Calculation details
Every figure above is calculated locally in your browser from the assumptions shown. No inputs are sent anywhere. See the methodology section below for how this tool works.
Use this resultShare the current inputs, or ask ChatGPT to explain the calculation in context.
Ask an AI to explain this result
Share this result
Review the generated output before relying on it.
This tool runs in your browser. Your calculator inputs and results are never transmitted to us or to ad/affiliate partners. Ads and sponsored links may set third-party cookies to serve and measure them, but they never receive your calculation values. If you explicitly save a scenario, its permitted fields stay in local browser storage until you clear them. See our Privacy Policy.
Use this result
Share the current inputs or ask ChatGPT to explain the calculation in context.
No unrelated authority link is added merely to make this page look sourced. Tool-specific external sources are shown only when they directly support the method, rate, or rule.
Assumptions to Verify
Rates, fees, timing, and rules can change.
Use the result as a planning estimate and verify current terms.
Privacy: The calculation runs in this browser. Shared links contain the page address only, not your inputs or results.
$85k single, 2026 brackets
What this means for your numbers: The worked example's 16% effective rate vs the 22% marginal rate: deductions shelter the bottom brackets. The next dollar is taxed at 22%; the average dollar at 16%.
Illustrative breakdown using the worked example above. The calculator computes your own numbers with the same formula.
A worked example: $60,000 single filer
Take a single filer with $60,000 of gross income. The calculator first applies the $15,000 standard deduction, leaving $45,000 of taxable income. The 2026 brackets fill bottom-up: the first $11,925 is taxed at 10%, which is $1,192.50. The remaining $45,000 minus $11,925 equals $33,075, taxed at 12%, which is $3,969.00.
Total tax is $1,192.50 plus $3,969.00, or $5,161.50. Divided by $60,000 of income, that is an effective rate of 8.6%, even though the marginal rate on the last dollar is 12%. Take-home before FICA is $60,000 minus $5,161.50, or $54,838.50. Notice the 22% bracket never touches this person: only income above $48,475 taxable reaches it, and $45,000 falls short. That bracket-filling behavior is why effective rates sit well below marginal rates, and why a raise of $10,000 would push only the portion above $48,475 taxable into 22%, costing $1,193 more in tax, not $2,200.
What this estimate leaves out
The calculator applies one standard deduction and nothing else, so real liabilities can differ by thousands. A single filer contributing $10,000 to a traditional 401(k) lowers taxable income from $85,000 to $75,000, cutting the computed tax of $13,614 by $2,200 at the 22% rate. Credits work the opposite way: one child tax credit of $2,200 directly cancels $2,200 of the tax, and the earned income credit can take a low-income filer's bill to zero. None of that appears here.
Two structural gaps matter most. First, FICA is excluded: on a $60,000 wage the 7.65% employee share adds another $4,590, so actual take-home is closer to $50,248. Second, the tool taxes all income as ordinary wages. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividends use a separate 0% to 20% schedule, so someone with $30,000 of wages and $20,000 of long-term gains owes roughly $1,200 less than this tool reports. Use the result as a bracket-level floor, not a filing projection.
