United States · Federal only
Federal Income Tax Calculator
Estimate 2025 or 2026 federal ordinary-income tax, then compare it with withholding and estimated payments to see a possible refund or balance due.
Tax data review and calculation testing by the ONLINTools Editorial Team · Last verified August 13, 2026
This is a scoped estimator
Interest, pension, or other income taxed at ordinary rates. Do not enter qualified dividends or long-term capital gains.
Enter only adjustments you have independently determined, such as a deductible traditional IRA contribution.
Optional verified deductions outside the selected base deduction. Eligibility and phaseouts are not calculated.
Credits are limited to calculated federal tax. Refundable portions are not modeled.
Enter ordinary income
Taxable income, bracket layers, tax, and a possible refund or balance due will appear here.
What this calculator is designed to answer
How much federal ordinary-income tax may I owe?
How does my filing status change the standard deduction and brackets?
What is my marginal rate versus my effective federal rate?
Could entered withholding and estimated payments produce a refund or balance due?
How the federal income tax estimate is calculated
1. Estimate adjusted gross income
Wages and other ordinary income are combined, then the adjustments you enter reduce that amount without allowing it to fall below zero.
2. Determine taxable income
The selected standard or itemized deduction and any additional verified deduction are subtracted from adjusted gross income.
3. Apply progressive tax brackets
Only the dollars inside each bracket layer are taxed at that bracket's rate. Moving into a higher bracket does not re-tax all earlier income.
4. Compare tax with payments
Nonrefundable credits reduce calculated tax to no less than zero. Withholding and estimated payments are then compared with the remaining tax.
Worked example: $75,000 salary, single filer
For tax year 2026, a single filer with $75,000 of ordinary wage income and no entered adjustments uses the $16,100 standard deduction. That leaves $58,900 of taxable income. Applying the 10%, 12%, and 22% bracket layers produces an estimated $7,670 of federal income tax. If the taxpayer enters $8,000 of federal withholding, this calculator shows a possible $330 refund. This example excludes payroll tax, state tax, special credits, and every limitation listed below.
How to read your federal tax result
| Result | What it means | What it does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax | Estimated annual ordinary-income tax after entered nonrefundable credits. | It does not include payroll, state, capital-gains, or self-employment tax. |
| Marginal rate | The rate applied to the last taxable-income layer reached by this estimate. | It is not the rate applied to every dollar of income. |
| Effective federal rate | Estimated federal income tax divided by gross ordinary income. | It is not an all-in tax rate because excluded taxes are not in the numerator. |
| Refund or balance due | Calculated tax compared with the withholding and estimated payments you entered. | A refund is not an extra credit calculated by the tool, and the result is not a filed return. |
Use the tool that matches your decision
Annual federal planning
Use this calculator to test ordinary-income, deduction, credit, and payment assumptions across the supported tax years and filing statuses.
Paycheck and FICA planning
Use the Salary After Tax Calculator when the decision depends on Social Security, Medicare, pay frequency, or deductions from wages.
Form W-4 or filing decisions
Use the IRS withholding estimator, tax preparation software, or a qualified professional when you need form-specific treatment.
Important limitations
This calculator is for common ordinary-income planning scenarios. It is not tax preparation software and does not establish eligibility for a deduction or credit. It excludes qualified dividend and long-term capital-gain rates, self-employment tax, AMT, net investment income tax, phaseouts, refundable credits, dependent rules, and state or local tax.
Tax configuration last verified: August 13, 2026.
Source values are versioned in the shared calculation core and protected by filing-status boundary tests. See the editorial policy or report a suspected calculation issue through the site contact link.