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Take Home Pay and Tax Withholding Planner

Estimate your paycheck, see exactly where each dollar goes, and check whether your federal tax withholding looks on track for the year. Built for tax year 2026 — every figure below shows its source and last-verified date.

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Before You Begin

  • This tool produces an educational estimate, not a guaranteed paycheck or tax figure. Federal withholding is calculated with a simplified percentage-method approximation built from current IRS tax brackets, not a transcription of the IRS's exact Publication 15-T withholding tables.
  • We currently support full federal calculations plus a limited set of states (listed in the State field below). Every other state shows a clearly labeled federal-only result.
  • This tool doesn't calculate capital gains tax, self-employment tax, the alternative minimum tax, or premium tax credits. If those apply to you, treat any annual estimate as a wide range and confirm with the official IRS Tax Withholding Estimator or a tax professional.
  • Everything you enter stays in your own browser on this device. We don't send it to a server or store it on our end. Closing your browser's site data, or using "Clear my data" below, permanently deletes it.

1What Do You Want to Know?

Tax year 2026 — rules effective January 1, 2026, last verified September 19, 2026.

2Location and Pay Schedule

3Earnings

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A bonus paid separately is generally withheld at a flat federal rate (22%, or 37% once your year-to-date supplemental pay passes $1 million) rather than run through the regular withholding formula. Either way, the tax withheld on a bonus is a prepayment toward your annual tax, not necessarily its final rate.

4Pretax Benefits and Retirement

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5Form W-4 Elections

This is what's on file with your employer — it controls withholding and doesn't have to match your eventual tax-return filing status.

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Leave year-to-date wages at $0 if this is roughly your first paycheck of the year. We use it to apply the Social Security wage-base ceiling and the Additional Medicare Tax threshold correctly if you're partway through the year or paid highly.

This tool provides general educational estimates built from current IRS and Social Security Administration figures. It is not a paystub, a guarantee, or personalized tax advice, and it does not replace the official IRS Tax Withholding Estimator or a qualified tax professional. State coverage is limited — see the Assumptions & Rules Used section in your results. Read our full disclaimer →

Your Results

Fill in what you have above, then select "Calculate My Paycheck" to see your results.