Tax Calculator

$86,000 of wages is not taxed at 22%

Single filer. Tax year 2026. Wages of $86,000. The standard deduction. No credits.

The 22% bracket is the rate on the last dollar of taxable income. Earlier dollars stay at 10%, then 12%.

Gross wages: $86,000.
Standard deduction, single, 2026: $16,100.
Taxable income: $69,900.

Federal income tax: $10,090.

Effective rate on the $86,000: 11.7%. Marginal rate: 22%.

The tax calculator above loads this return, with $9,200 already withheld. Balance due: $890. Change the wage. The bracket rows follow.

Tax = sum across brackets of (dollars inside the bracket × the bracket rate)

Progressive income tax keeps each slice at its own rate. The first slice, up to the 10% ceiling, never moves into a higher bracket when wages rise. Only the dollars above a ceiling pick up the next rate. A raise crossing from 12% into 22% taxes the extra dollars at 22%. Dollars already earned stay at 12%. A household described as "in the 22% bracket" still shows an effective rate near 12% of gross wages, once the standard deduction has pulled the first chunk of income off the tax base. Quoting a bracket as the rate on every dollar of salary describes a flat tax. Federal wages are not taxed as a flat percentage of salary.

2026 brackets, including the $16,100 standard deduction, follow IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Under $100,000 of taxable income the IRS uses a tax table built in $50 bands. Straight bracket math, which is what the form does, lands a few dollars away from the table. Use the form for a planning figure. Use the table, or a preparer, before filing.

Each tax hits a different base

A rate without a base is a guess.

Drop a sales-tax rate into the income form. The form then taxes wages. A VAT rate on a paycheck does the same damage.

Pay stub in hand? Switch to Payroll.

Sticker price? Sales, VAT, or GST.

Closing statement on a house? Property.

Brokerage confirmation? Capital gains.

A C corporation's federal rate is 21% of taxable income. Flat & excise loads $100,000 at 21%, tax $21,000. Per-unit excise sits on the same tab: 500 units at $0.184 comes to $92, added on top of any percentage. A surcharge is a percent of the tax, not of the base. 4% of a $21,000 tax is $840. An estate estimate with one exemption, then one rate, fits the allowance box. A progressive estate schedule will not match.

Three stages people treat as one number

A $2,000 traditional IRA contribution lowers taxable income. At a 22% marginal rate the tax saved is $440.

A $2,000 credit cuts the bill by $2,000.

Same cash. Different line on the return.

Withholding sits in a third place. The loaded example withholds $9,200 against a $10,090 bill, so $890 is still due. Withholding does not shrink taxable income. Withholding is a payment already made.

Credits on this form stop at zero. The earned income credit pays money past a zero bill. Enter only the nonrefundable part, or the balance due comes out too high.

Social Security hits a ceiling. Medicare does not.

2026 Social Security wage base: $184,500.

• Employee share: 6.2% of wages up to the base, then nothing more.
• Employer share: another 6.2%, same cap.
• Medicare: 1.45% from each side, no cap.
• Extra Medicare tax: 0.9% on the employee only, after wages pass $200,000 for single or head of household, $250,000 for married filing jointly, or $125,000 for married filing separately. The employer does not match the 0.9%.

Take $200,000 of wages, single, 2026, paid as one annual amount. Payroll mode opens on this case. Social Security stops at the wage base: $184,500 × 6.2% = $11,439. Medicare runs on the full $200,000: $2,900. The extra 0.9% is $0, because the wages land on the threshold, not past the line. One more dollar starts the 0.9%. The employer matches $11,439 plus $2,900, nothing further.

A 401(k) deferral stays inside those wages. Health premiums or FSA amounts taken through a cafeteria plan come out. The payroll form has a field for the cafeteria group. Leave the 401(k) off the cafeteria field.

Self-employment charges both halves. On $86,000 of net profit the tax base is 92.35%, or $79,421. Social Security at 12.4% is $9,848.20. Medicare at 2.9% is $2,303.21. Combined self-employment tax: $12,151.41. Half of those two pieces, $6,075.71, is deductible on the income-tax return. The 0.9% extra Medicare tax stays out of the deductible half.

Payroll mode prints the deductible half. Income mode does not pull the figure across. Type the figure into Adjustments or the income estimate stays high.

Need federal withholding on a full stub, with a pay schedule? The payroll calculator is the better page. Payroll mode here is FICA only.

A long-term gain is stacked on ordinary income

Hold the asset for more than a year to reach the 0%, 15%, or 20% schedule. Ordinary taxable income fills those bands first.

Sold for $72,000. Basis $50,000. Selling costs $2,000. Gain: $20,000. Ordinary taxable income already on the return: $40,000. Single filer, 2026. Capital gains mode loads these figures.

The 0% band ends at $49,450. Room left above $40,000: $9,450, taxed at 0%. The other $10,550 is taxed at 15%.

Tax on the gain: $1,582.50.

Taxing the full $20,000 at 15% invents $1,417.50 of tax you do not owe.

A sale held a year or less uses ordinary brackets, stacked the same way. Tax on other income plus the gain, minus tax on the other income alone. Eleven months is short-term. The holding-period box is the switch.

The 3.8% net investment income tax applies once income passes $200,000 for a single filer or head of household, $250,000 for married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse, or $125,000 for married filing separately. The checkbox starts on. The test treats the other-income field plus the gain as a stand-in for modified adjusted gross income. Near the threshold, treat the 3.8% line as a sketch. Real modified adjusted gross income adds items the form never asks for.

A loss shows zero tax here.

The $3,000 offset against ordinary income, plus any carryover to a later year, is a return question. One sale will not settle the offset.

Once the tax is known, the ROI calculator turns the figure into an after-tax return.

Tax-inclusive prices hide the rate

$100 with sales tax of 6% state, 2% local, plus 0.25% district comes to $108.25. Tax: $8.25. Sales mode opens on those three rates.

Now take $108.25 with 20% VAT already inside the price. VAT mode opens on this price.

Divide by 1.20. Net: $90.21. VAT: $18.04.

Multiply $108.25 by 0.20. The result is $21.65. The $21.65 figure taxes the tax.

VAT mode, like GST mode, divides by one plus the rate when the amount is marked tax-inclusive.

GST split cuts one rate in half. An 18% GST on $100 becomes $9 plus $9, the CGST/SGST pattern, on the same pre-tax base. Gross: $118. GST mode opens on this split.

GST plus a provincial tax uses two rates you type, both on the pre-tax amount. A province charging its tax on a GST-inclusive price will not match. The result note says so when the plus scheme is selected.

Strip tax off before judging margin. The sales tax calculator is built for one combined US rate. The profit margin calculator wants the pre-tax price. Feed a VAT-inclusive shelf price into a margin figure. The margin runs high.

Mills are not percent

One mill equals $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed value.

One mill equals 0.1%.

Ten mills on a $250,000 assessment: $2,500 a year. Property mode opens on this bill.

The same 10 typed as a percent: $25,000.

Bills also print dollars per $100, or dollars per $1,000. Percent matches per $100. Mills match per $1,000. The unit switch matches the wording on the bill. The note then shows the bill under the other unit.

Assessment ratios change the base before any of this. A $400,000 house in a county assessing at 80% has a $320,000 assessed value before a homestead exemption. Tax the market value. The bill runs a quarter too high. Switch the value box to market value when the county publishes a ratio instead of an assessed figure.