What the arithmetic is, and what it is not
A paycheck in this model has a few moving parts, and the rest is left out on purpose. Gross pay for the period is multiplied by 52, 26, 24, 12, or 1, depending on the frequency you choose. That multiplier is this page's way of turning a period into a year. It is not a claim that every employer uses those counts. A weekly amount times 52 is the assumption labeled on the control. The year is then the thing the tax tables see.
Federal income tax uses Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Section 4.01 of that procedure sets the 2026 rate tables for married filing jointly, heads of household, unmarried individuals, and married filing separately. Section 4.14 sets the basic standard deduction: $16,100.00 for unmarried individuals,$32,200.00 for married filing jointly and surviving spouses,$24,150.00 for heads of household, and$16,100.00 for married filing separately. The IRS news release on the 2026 inflation adjustments states those same deduction amounts. This page subtracts only that basic deduction. It does not add the extra amount for age or blindness, which the same section of the revenue procedure states separately as $1,650.00 or $2,050.00 depending on filing facts this form does not ask.
Publication 15-T is the IRS publication for federal income tax withholding methods, and the 2026 edition is the one employers use with Form W-4. This page does not follow it. It does not ask for dependents, other income, deductions beyond the basic standard deduction, or extra withholding. Two people with the same salary and different W-4 forms can have different withholding. The figure here can be read as a rough tax on one job's wages under the ordinary tables. It should not be read as the amount that will be on the pay stub. Giuseppe Ilarda, the site owner, writes and checks the page. It is not tax advice. Thedisclaimer covers the broader limit: these calculators are educational estimates.
A checked year of wages
Take $60,000.00 of wages, filing single, with no deferral and with state tax excluded. Taxable income is $60,000.00 minus $16,100.00, which is$43,900.00. Table 3 of the revenue procedure puts taxable income over$12,400.00 and not over $50,400.00 at $1,240.00 plus 12% of the excess over$12,400.00. That is $5,020.00. The tests check the published tax at each bracket boundary, including $50,400.00 of taxable income at $5,800.00, so a transcription of the table fails the build if a threshold and its base tax do not meet.
Employee Social Security is 6.2% and employee Medicare is 1.4500000000000002%, from IRS Topic 751. On$60,000.00, which is under the 2026 wage base, Social Security is $3,720.00and Medicare is $870.00. Additional Medicare is$0.00 because the wages do not pass$200,000.00. Take-home for the year is$50,390.00. The form opens on $5,000.00 a month, which is that same$60,000.00 year when the frequency is monthly. The per-period take-home is the annual figure divided by the number of periods and rounded half-up to the cent. Twelve rounded months can be a few cents away from the annual total. The annual line is the one the tests lock.
The wage base and Additional Medicare Tax
Topic 751 says the Social Security wage base for earnings in 2026 is$184,500.00. The Federal Register notice of November 3, 2025, states the same OASDI contribution and benefit base for remuneration paid in 2026. Employee Social Security on that base is$11,439.00 when wages are at least the base, because$184,500.00 times 6.2% is that amount. Medicare has no wage base. Topic 751 says all covered wages are subject to Medicare tax.
Additional Medicare Tax is 0.8999999999999999%. Topic 751 says the employer withholds it on wages it pays above$200,000.00 in the calendar year, without regard to filing status. On $210,000.00 of wages from the job in the form, the amount above the threshold is $10,000.00and the withholding is $90.00. Medicare on the full $210,000.00 is$3,045.00. The IRS questions-and-answers page gives different thresholds for the tax a person may owe, including $250,000.00 for married filing jointly and $125,000.00 for married filing separately. This page uses the withholding rule, not those liability thresholds, and it sees only the wages you type. A second job or a spouse's wages can change the tax on the return without changing this screen.
A traditional deferral
Publication 15's table of what is taxable says elective employee contributions and deferrals to a 401(k) are generally exempt from income-tax withholding, subject to the section 402(g) limit, and are taxable for Social Security and Medicare. This page follows that split. A traditional deferral, after the 2026 elective cap, is removed from wages before the standard deduction. It is not removed from the Social Security or Medicare base. The cap is the same $24,500.00 elective limit used on theretirement page, plus $8,000.00 if the catch-up box is on. The age 60 through 63 amount is not a separate switch here either.
On $5,000.00 a month with a deferral that annualizes to $5,000.00, filing single, taxable income is $38,900.00 and federal income tax is$4,420.00. Social Security stays $3,720.00 and Medicare stays $870.00, the same dollars as the no-deferral year of$60,000.00, because the deferral did not leave the FICA base. Roth deferrals are not modeled. The IRS treats designated Roth contributions as included in gross income. Do not type a Roth amount into the traditional field and expect this page to leave income tax unchanged. It will not.
State wage tax, and the states left out
The state control defaults to excluded. Excluded means the take-home line does not pretend a state tax is zero. The label says excluded. Two states are offered because their wage rule is a sentence this page can apply without a bracket table.
Nevada's Constitution, Article 10, Section 1, says no income tax shall be levied upon the wages or personal income of natural persons. The same subsection says taxes may still be levied on the income or revenue of a business. The Nevada choice on this form sets the tax on the wages you typed to $0.00. It does not compute a tax on a business.
Tennessee's Department of Revenue says the Hall income tax was imposed only on interest from bonds and notes and dividends from stock, and that it was repealed for tax periods beginning on or after January 1, 2021. The Tennessee choice sets the tax on wages to $0.00 for that reason. It does not compute a tax on interest or dividends, because that tax is the one the department says not to file.
Florida is not in the list. Article VII, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution, on the legislature's constitution page, limits a tax on the income of natural persons by reference to amounts that may be credited or deducted against a similar tax. That clause is not a simple wage rate of zero this form will apply. Texas is not in the list either. The statutes page retrieved for this article did not include the constitutional text in a form that could be quoted as a wage rule. Washington is not in the list. Its Department of Revenue describes a capital gains excise tax, which is not a simple tax on wages and is not computed here. Every other state is excluded for the same reason: a 2026 bracket, standard deduction, or local wage tax was not reduced to a rule this page could cite and apply without guessing. If you need that tax, this result is incomplete on purpose.
Other omissions
- Publication 15-T withholding, credits, and the qualified-tip and overtime deductions discussed in Publication 15.
- The additional standard deduction for age or blindness, and the dependent standard deduction.
- Pre-tax health premiums, health savings accounts, and cafeteria-plan amounts other than the 401(k) field.
- More than one job, a spouse's wages, and self-employment tax.
Married filing jointly uses the joint standard deduction against only the wages in the form. If a spouse also has wages, taxable income here is too low. That is labeled on the control. The page still is not a return, and it is not a reason to change a W-4. The editorial policy explains how corrections are sent. The contact address is on the about page.