Moving "into the 22% bracket" does not mean all your income is taxed at 22%. Each bracket taxes only the slice of income that falls inside it. Your marginal rate is the rate on your last dollar; your effective rate (total tax ÷ income) is always lower.

Single: unmarried, filing on your own. Married filing jointly: spouses combine income and deductions on one return — usually the lowest combined tax. Married filing separately: each spouse files alone — sometimes required or beneficial in specific situations, but loses several credits. Head of household: unmarried, paying more than half the cost of a home for a qualifying dependent — wider brackets and a bigger standard deduction than Single.

Every income line you add (wages, self-employment, investment, other) sums to gross income. Subtract your adjustments (401(k), IRA, HSA, student loan interest, half of self-employment tax) to reach AGI — the number that determines eligibility for many credits and phase-outs.

You take whichever is larger: the standard deduction (a flat amount by filing status, larger if you or your spouse is 65+) or your itemized deductions added up line by line (mortgage interest, state/local taxes up to the SALT cap, charitable gifts, and more). This calculator computes both and tells you which one it used.

Personal exemptions (a fixed subtraction per person) were reduced to $0 by the 2017 tax law for 2018–2025 and are scheduled to return afterward depending on future legislation — this calculator reflects $0 exemptions unless you're calculating a pre-2018 year.

A deduction reduces taxable income (worth deduction × your marginal rate). A credit subtracts directly from your tax bill, dollar for dollar — far more valuable. Qualifying children under 17 generate the Child Tax Credit; other dependents (older kids, relatives you support) generate the smaller Credit for Other Dependents. Both are computed automatically from the counts you enter, and you can stack any number of additional named credits on top.

W-2 wages split Social Security (6.2%, to an annual wage base) and Medicare (1.45%, +0.9% above a threshold) between you and your employer — this calculator shows your employee half. Self-employment income has no employer to split with, so it pays the full 15.3% combined rate on 92.35% of net earnings — but half of that self-employment tax is then deductible from AGI, which this calculator applies automatically.

This is a planning estimate for US federal income tax only. It does not cover state/local tax, the Alternative Minimum Tax, capital-gains preferential rates (gains are taxed here at ordinary rates for simplicity), credit phase-outs at higher incomes, or every provision of current law. Years without confirmed IRS figures are approximated from the nearest known year and clearly marked. For filing, verify against current IRS publications or a qualified tax professional.