Your salary is the number on the offer letter. Your paycheck is what is left after your employer has withheld federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state and sometimes local income tax, plus whatever you have chosen to put into a 401(k), a health plan or other benefits.
This guide walks through every one of those lines in the order payroll works them out, using the 2026 rules the IRS and the states have published. It explains how federal withholding is actually calculated (the IRS percentage method in Publication 15-T), how Social Security and Medicare work, the three kinds of state income tax, where local taxes come in, why pre-tax deductions do not all save the same taxes, how bonuses are withheld, and what the 2025 federal tax law changed for 2026.
Two of the numbers you will meet most often in 2026:
$184,500 $16,100If you only want your number, the paycheck calculator does all of this for any state. If you want to understand why the number is what it is, read on.
What comes out of a paycheck, in order
Every payroll system follows roughly the same sequence. The order matters, because some deductions come out before taxes are figured and reduce them, while others come out after.
- Gross pay. Your salary divided by the number of paydays, or your hourly rate times the hours you worked, plus any overtime, commissions or bonus paid in that period.
- Pre-tax deductions. Section 125 cafeteria-plan health, dental and vision premiums, HSA contributions made through payroll, and traditional 401(k), 403(b) or 457(b) deferrals. These lower the wages that one or more taxes are figured on.
- Federal income tax withholding. Figured from your taxable wages and the choices on your Form W-4.
- Social Security tax. A flat percentage of wages up to an annual cap.
- Medicare tax. A flat percentage of all wages, plus an extra amount once your wages for the year pass a threshold.
- State income tax withholding. In states that tax wages, figured with that state’s own formula and withholding certificate.
- State payroll taxes. In a handful of states, employee-paid programs such as disability insurance or paid family and medical leave.
- Local income tax. In some cities, counties and school districts.
- After-tax deductions. Roth 401(k) contributions, union dues, wage garnishments, some insurance.
- Net pay. What lands in your bank account.
Here is who sets the rules for each line:
| Paycheck line | Who sets the rules | What it is figured on |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax | IRS (Publication 15-T, Form W-4) | Taxable wages after most pre-tax deductions |
| Social Security | Congress and the IRS (Publication 15) | Wages after Section 125 deductions, up to the wage base |
| Medicare | Congress and the IRS (Publication 15) | Wages after Section 125 deductions, no cap |
| State income tax | Your state revenue department | State taxable wages (each state has its own rules) |
| State payroll taxes | State labor or employment agency | Usually gross wages, sometimes capped |
| Local income tax | City, county or school district | Usually gross or local taxable wages |
| Retirement and benefits | You and your employer’s plan | Your elections |
A real example makes the order concrete. This is a $75,000 salary paid every two weeks to a single filer in Texas, with no other W-4 entries:
| Line | Every 2 weeks | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,885 | $75,000 |
| Federal income tax | -$295 | -$7,670 |
| Social Security | -$179 | -$4,650 |
| Medicare | -$42 | -$1,087 |
| Take-home pay | $2,369 | $61,593 |
Texas has no state income tax, so there are only three tax lines. The same salary in a state that taxes wages adds at least one more. You can see the same figures for any state on its own page, for example $75,000 in Texas or $75,000 in Illinois.
Withholding is not your tax bill
Before going line by line, one distinction explains most paycheck confusion: withholding is a prepayment, not the tax itself.
Your employer does not know your whole financial life. It knows your pay and what you put on your Form W-4. From that, it uses an IRS formula to estimate how much federal income tax you will owe for the year and withholds a slice of that estimate from each paycheck. Your actual tax is figured once a year on Form 1040, using all of your income, your real filing status, your deductions and your credits.
- If more was withheld than you owe, you get the difference back as a refund.
- If less was withheld, you pay the difference when you file, and possibly a penalty if the gap is large.
Social Security and Medicare are different: for most people with one job, what is withheld is exactly what is owed, because those taxes are flat percentages of wages. The exceptions are covered below.
State income tax works like federal: what is withheld is an estimate, settled on your state return.
The IRS’s own tool for checking whether your withholding is on track is the Tax Withholding Estimator. Our federal income tax calculator estimates the year-end side of the equation: your 2026 tax by bracket and whether you are on course for a refund.
How federal income tax withholding works
The 2020-and-later Form W-4
Federal withholding starts with Form W-4, the certificate you fill in when you start a job. Since 2020 the form no longer uses “allowances.” Instead it has five steps:
- Step 1: your name, Social Security number and filing status (single or married filing separately, married filing jointly, or head of household).
- Step 2: whether you have more than one job or your spouse also works.
- Step 3: credits for dependents and other credits, as a dollar amount.
- Step 4: other income to add, deductions to subtract, and any extra amount to withhold each paycheck.
- Step 5: your signature.
If you only fill in Steps 1 and 5, your employer withholds based on your filing status, pay and pay frequency alone. If you never hand in a W-4 at all, the IRS tells employers to treat you as single with no other entries. Our step-by-step guide to filling out the 2026 W-4 covers each step and what it does to your paycheck.
Employees who still have a W-4 from 2019 or earlier keep their old allowances. Payroll converts each allowance into a deduction of $4,300 a year under the 2026 method.
The IRS percentage method, in plain English
Payroll software uses Worksheet 1A of IRS Publication 15-T, “Percentage Method Tables for Automated Payroll Systems.”IRS It looks intimidating, but it boils down to seven moves:
- Turn this paycheck into a year. Take your taxable wages for the pay period (gross pay minus pre-tax deductions such as 401(k) and Section 125 premiums) and multiply by the number of pay periods in a year.
- Add other income. Add any amount you entered in W-4 Step 4(a).
- Subtract deductions. Subtract anything you entered in Step 4(b). Then, unless you checked the Step 2 box, subtract a fixed amount: $12,900 if you are married filing jointly or $8,600 otherwise. What is left is the “adjusted annual wage amount.”
- Look up the annual table. Find your row in the annual percentage method table for your filing status. Each row gives a base amount plus a percentage of the amount above the row’s starting point. That is your tentative tax for the year.
- Turn it back into a paycheck. Divide by the number of pay periods.
- Subtract credits. Divide your W-4 Step 3 amount by the number of pay periods and subtract it. The result cannot go below zero.
- Add extra withholding. Add any per-paycheck amount from Step 4(c). That is what comes out of this paycheck.
Why the fixed subtraction in move 3? The tables already start with a band of income taxed at zero. For a single filer, the first $7,500 of adjusted annual wages is in that zero band. Add the fixed subtraction of $8,600 and you get exactly the 2026 standard deduction for single filers, $16,100. In other words, the percentage method quietly gives every employee the standard deduction, spread across the year’s paychecks. The rest of the table is the 2026 tax brackets, shifted up by that zero band.
The method has two sets of tables. The standard tables are used when the Step 2 box is not checked. The “Step 2 checkbox” tables are used when it is: they start taxing sooner (a single filer’s zero band is only $8,050) and their brackets are half as wide, because the Form W-4 instructions split the standard deduction and brackets in half between your two jobs. The fixed subtraction is also skipped. That is why checking the box raises withholding.
Because the formula annualizes each paycheck, it gives the right answer for an employee who earns the same amount all year. It over-withholds on a paycheck that is unusually large (the formula assumes you earn that much every period) and under-withholds if you only work part of the year.
The 2026 federal tax brackets
The brackets used on your tax return come from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32.IRS Each rate applies only to the slice of taxable income above the threshold shown, up to the next threshold.
| Rate | Single: taxable income over | Married filing jointly: over | Head of household: over |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 12% | $12,400 | $24,800 | $17,700 |
| 22% | $50,400 | $100,800 | $67,450 |
| 24% | $105,700 | $211,400 | $105,700 |
| 32% | $201,775 | $403,550 | $201,750 |
| 35% | $256,225 | $512,450 | $256,200 |
| 37% | $640,600 | $768,700 | $640,600 |
Taxable income is income after deductions. Most people take the standard deduction, which for 2026 is:
| Filing status | 2026 standard deduction |
|---|---|
| Single or married filing separately | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse | $32,200 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
People who are 65 or older or blind add $2,050 each if unmarried, or $1,650 per qualifying spouse if married.
Marginal rate vs effective rate
Moving into a higher bracket never reduces your take-home pay, because the higher rate applies only to the dollars above the threshold. Two numbers are worth knowing:
- Your marginal rate is the rate on your next dollar of income. It is what matters for a raise, a bonus or a 401(k) contribution.
- Your effective rate is your total tax divided by your income. It is always lower than the marginal rate, because the first slices of income are taxed at lower rates or not at all.
On the $75,000 Texas example above, the paycheck calculator puts the combined marginal rate (federal, Social Security and Medicare) at 29.6% but the effective rate on all taxes at 17.9%.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
FICA is the name for the two payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. Unlike income tax, they ignore your filing status, deductions and W-4. They are flat percentages of wages.IRS
| Tax | Employee rate | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security | 6.2% | Wages up to $184,500 in 2026 |
| Medicare | 1.45% | All wages, no cap |
| Additional Medicare Tax | 0.9% | Wages over $200,000 in the calendar year |
Your employer pays a matching Social Security and Medicare tax on top of your wages. That share does not come out of your paycheck. There is no employer share of the Additional Medicare Tax.
The Social Security wage base
Social Security tax stops once your wages for the calendar year reach the wage base. If you earn more than that, your paychecks get bigger late in the year when the tax drops off. Our calculators show an average paycheck (the annual total divided by the number of paydays), so for high earners the early-year checks will be smaller than the average and the late-year checks larger.
If you work for two or more employers in the same year, each one withholds Social Security up to the wage base on its own wages, because neither knows about the other. If the total withheld comes to more than the maximum, you claim the excess back as a credit on your federal return.IRS
Additional Medicare Tax: withheld at one threshold, owed at another
Employers must start withholding the Additional Medicare Tax in the pay period your wages from that employer pass $200,000, whatever your filing status.IRS On your return, though, the tax is owed on combined wages above a threshold that depends on filing status: $250,000 for married couples filing jointly, $125,000 for married filing separately and $200,000 for everyone else. The difference is settled on Form 8959. A two-earner couple can owe it even if neither employer withheld it, and a single high earner whose employer withheld it will owe exactly what was withheld.
Here is a single filer in Texas earning $250,000, where both the wage base and the Additional Medicare threshold come into play:
| Line | Every 2 weeks | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $9,615 | $250,000 |
| Federal income tax | -$1,973 | -$51,304 |
| Social Security | -$440 | -$11,439 |
| Medicare | -$139 | -$3,625 |
| Additional Medicare | -$17 | -$450 |
| Take-home pay | $7,045 | $183,182 |
State income tax: none, flat or progressive
After federal and FICA, the biggest variable in take-home pay is your state. States fall into three groups:
- No tax on wages. A small group of states do not tax wage income at all. Federal income tax and FICA still apply in full. Our guide to states with no income tax in 2026 lists them, each confirmed with the state’s own revenue agency, and explains what they tax instead.
- Flat tax. One rate applies to all taxable income, usually after a personal exemption or standard deduction. Even then, withholding can differ from a simple percentage of pay because of exemptions and allowances.
- Progressive tax. Like the federal system, rates rise in brackets. Brackets, deductions and credits vary widely, and many states follow their own definition of taxable wages.
Each state also has its own withholding method. Some use the federal Form W-4 and your federal filing status. Many have their own withholding certificate with allowances or exemptions. Some publish a formula; others publish only wage-bracket tables. Our state modules follow the employer withholding method each state publishes for 2026, and every state page lists its sources.
The table below shows every state and DC. Click a state for its paycheck calculator, brackets, withholding rules and sources. States whose 2026 data we are still verifying are marked as under review.
| State | Wage income tax | Top rate | Summary |
|---|
To see the effect on one salary across all states at once, use the state income tax comparison. On a $75,000 salary for a single filer, the gap between the highest and lowest take-home pay is $5,579 a year.
State payroll taxes
A few states also make employees pay into state programs through payroll: state disability insurance, paid family and medical leave, and in Washington the WA Cares long-term care fund. Washington’s employer guide, for example, tells employers to “withhold Paid Leave and WA Cares premiums from employee paychecks.”Paid Leave Washington These lines show up separately on your pay stub. Where they apply, the state page and the paycheck calculator include them.
Local income taxes
Some cities, counties and school districts levy their own income tax on wages. Pennsylvania is a well-known example: under the state’s Act 32 system, employers with worksites in Pennsylvania must withhold the local Earned Income Tax and Local Services Tax for their employees.Pennsylvania DCED Several other states allow local income taxes too.
Local taxes have their own wrinkles:
- Resident vs nonresident rates. Some localities tax residents and people who work there at different rates. Our calculator assumes you live and work in the same place and uses the resident rate.
- Where you live vs where you work. Depending on the state, the tax may follow your home address, your work address, or both, with credits so you are not taxed twice.
- Flat fees. A few local taxes are a flat annual amount rather than a percentage.
In the paycheck calculator, pick your city, county or school district under “Local tax.” We include only localities whose rates we could document from the local or state government. If yours is not listed, your take-home pay may be lower than our estimate.
Pre-tax and after-tax deductions
Not every pre-tax deduction saves you the same taxes. The difference comes down to which part of the tax code excludes it from wages.
| Deduction | Lowers federal income tax withholding? | Lowers Social Security and Medicare? | Lowers state income tax? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) | Yes | No | Usually, but not in every state |
| Section 125 health, dental, vision premiums | Yes | Yes | Usually |
| HSA contributions through a Section 125 plan | Yes | Yes | Most states; a few tax them |
| Roth 401(k) | No | No | No |
| Union dues, garnishments, after-tax insurance | No | No | No |
The 401(k) row surprises people. IRS Publication 15 lists elective deferrals to a 401(k) as generally exempt from income tax withholding but taxable for Social Security and Medicare.IRS Health premiums and HSA contributions paid through a Section 125 cafeteria plan are not wages at all for these taxes, so they lower FICA as well.IRS
For 2026 the employee limit on 401(k), 403(b) and governmental 457(b) deferrals is $24,500, with an extra catch-up of $8,000 for most people 50 and older.IRS
What does that mean for your paycheck? Take the $75,000 Texas salary from earlier. With no 401(k), take-home pay is $61,593 a year. Contributing 6% of pay to a traditional 401(k) brings take-home pay to $58,083. The drop is smaller than the contribution, because federal income tax withholding falls at the same time. Social Security and Medicare do not change.
Some states do not follow the federal treatment of these deductions. Our state modules apply each state’s own rule, and the state pages say which deductions the state excludes.
Bonuses and other supplemental wages
Bonuses, commissions, severance and similar payments are “supplemental wages,” and federal withholding on them follows its own rules in section 7 of IRS Publication 15.IRS
- Flat rate. If the bonus is identified separately from regular pay, your employer can withhold a flat 22% federal income tax, whatever filing status and dependents are on your W-4.
- Aggregate method. Or it can add the bonus to a regular paycheck, figure withholding on the total with the normal percentage method, and subtract what it already withheld from the regular pay. Because the formula assumes you earn that combined amount every pay period, this can withhold more than the flat rate.
- Very large bonuses. Supplemental wages above $1,000,000 in a calendar year must be withheld at 37%.
Social Security and Medicare apply to bonuses in full, and states have their own supplemental withholding rules. On a $5,000 bonus for someone earning $75,000 in Texas, the flat-rate method leaves $3,518 after withholding.
None of this changes your tax rate. A bonus is ordinary income taxed at your marginal rate on your return. If the withholding was more than your actual tax on it, you get the difference back. Our explainer on why your bonus is taxed so much walks through the math, and the bonus tax calculator compares both methods for your numbers.
What changed for 2026
The 2025 federal tax law (P.L. 119-21)
Public Law 119-21, signed on July 4, 2025 and commonly called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the IRS now groups its provisions under the name “Working Families Tax Cuts”), reshaped several parts of the paycheck picture.IRS
- Rates and the standard deduction made permanent. The individual tax rates and the larger standard deduction from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which had been set to expire after 2025, are now permanent, and personal exemptions are permanently gone. The IRS updated the 2026 withholding tables in Publication 15-T for these changes.IRS
- Supplemental withholding rates unchanged. Because the rates were extended, bonus withholding stays at 22% and 37% over the threshold.
- Child tax credit. The W-4 for 2026 uses $2,200 per qualifying child under 17 in Step 3.IRS
New deductions for tips, overtime, car loan interest and seniors
The law created four new deductions for tax years 2025 through 2028. They are claimed on your tax return (Schedule 1-A), whether or not you itemize.IRS
| Deduction | Maximum | Phase-out starts (modified AGI) |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified tips | $25,000 | $150,000 ($300,000 joint) |
| Qualified overtime (the “half” of time-and-a-half) | $12,500 ($25,000 joint) | $150,000 ($300,000 joint) |
| Car loan interest on a qualifying new vehicle | $10,000 | $100,000 ($200,000 joint) |
| Seniors 65 and older | $6,000 per person | $75,000 ($150,000 joint) |
Three things to know about how these reach your paycheck:
- They are deductions, not exemptions from withholding. Your employer still withholds federal income tax on tips and overtime as usual. The IRS says employers must use an employee’s updated W-4, if one is submitted, so you can account for the expected deduction and get more in each paycheck instead of waiting for a refund.
- They do not touch Social Security or Medicare. Tips and overtime remain subject to both.IRS
- The overtime deduction covers only the premium required by federal law. It is the part of overtime pay above your regular rate that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires, not overtime paid under a union contract or state law alone.IRS
Starting in 2026, people who take the standard deduction can also deduct cash gifts to charity, up to $1,000 ($2,000 for joint filers), according to the 2026 W-4’s Deductions Worksheet.
The 2026 Form W-4
Publication 15-T lists two changes to the 2026 form:
- The Deductions Worksheet for Step 4(b) now includes the new deductions for tips, overtime, car loan interest and seniors, so you can lower your withholding for them during the year.
- A new checkbox below Step 4(c) is how you claim exemption from withholding. Before 2026 you wrote “Exempt” in that space.
Inflation adjustments and the wage base
The 2026 standard deduction and bracket thresholds are higher than 2025’s because of the annual inflation adjustment in Rev. Proc. 2025-32, and the Social Security wage base rose to $184,500. Social Security and Medicare rates did not change.
Worked examples at three salary levels
The tables below come straight from our paycheck calculator, using 2026 data and each state’s withholding method. They assume the standard W-4 (no Step 2, 3 or 4 entries unless noted), no pre-tax deductions and biweekly pay. State figures come from our state data; if a state’s data is still under review, its page says so.
$45,000, single, Texas
| Line | Every 2 weeks | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $1,731 | $45,000 |
| Federal income tax | -$124 | -$3,220 |
| Social Security | -$107 | -$2,790 |
| Medicare | -$25 | -$652 |
| Take-home pay | $1,475 | $38,337 |
At this income, most of the federal income tax is in the lowest brackets, and Social Security and Medicare together are a large share of total tax. With no state income tax in Texas, those three federal lines are the whole story. The effective rate on all taxes is 14.8%.
$85,000, single, Illinois
| Line | Every 2 weeks | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $3,269 | $85,000 |
| Federal income tax | -$380 | -$9,870 |
| Social Security | -$203 | -$5,270 |
| Medicare | -$47 | -$1,232 |
| State income tax | -$156 | -$4,063 |
| Take-home pay | $2,483 | $64,565 |
Here the state line appears. Illinois uses its own withholding certificate, and the calculator applies the state’s default assumptions, which are listed on the Illinois paycheck page. The effective rate on all taxes rises to 24%.
$150,000, married filing jointly, Pennsylvania
| Line | Every 2 weeks | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $5,769 | $150,000 |
| Federal income tax | -$590 | -$15,340 |
| Social Security | -$358 | -$9,300 |
| Medicare | -$84 | -$2,175 |
| State income tax | -$177 | -$4,605 |
| PA UC | -$4 | -$105 |
| Take-home pay | $4,557 | $118,475 |
Married-filing-jointly withholding uses wider brackets and a larger built-in standard deduction, so the federal line is lower than it would be for a single filer with the same pay. This example assumes one earner; if both spouses work, Step 2 of the W-4 matters (see the W-4 guide). Pennsylvania state and local details are on the Pennsylvania paycheck page. Adding two children under 17 in W-4 Step 3 raises take-home pay from $118,475 to $122,875 a year.
Calculate your own paycheck
Change the salary, state, pay frequency and W-4 entries below. Everything is calculated in your browser.
$2,369
- Take-home per year
- $61,593
- Total taxes per year
- $13,408
- Effective tax rate
- 17.9%
- Marginal tax rate
- 29.6%
Take-home per paycheck: $2,369 every 2 weeks
| Line | Every 2 weeks | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,885 | $75,000 |
| Federal income tax | −$295 | −$7,670 |
| Social Security | −$179 | −$4,650 |
| Medicare | −$42 | −$1,088 |
| Take-home pay | $2,369 | $61,593 |
- Take-home pay$61,59382%
- Federal income tax$7,67010%
- Social Security & Medicare$5,7388%
Other calculators built on the same data:
- Federal income tax calculator: your 2026 tax by bracket, effective and marginal rate, and refund estimate.
- Bonus tax calculator: flat-rate vs aggregate withholding on a bonus.
- Salary to hourly calculator: convert pay both ways, with paid time off.
- State income tax comparison: the same salary in every state.
How to check your own withholding
Your pay stub is the best place to start. Check four things:
- Filing status and W-4 entries. Many stubs show the federal filing status the employer is using. If it is wrong, submit a new W-4.
- Taxable wages. The federal taxable wages line should be gross pay minus your pre-tax deductions. The Social Security and Medicare wages lines usually differ, because 401(k) deferrals are still included there.
- Year-to-date totals. Compare year-to-date federal withholding with what you expect to owe. The federal income tax calculator can estimate your 2026 tax and refund or balance due.
- State and local lines. Make sure the state matches where you live and work, and that any local tax is the right one.
Submit a new W-4 when your life changes: marriage or divorce, a new child, a second job, a spouse starting or stopping work, or big changes in other income or deductions. The IRS also suggests rechecking at the start of each year. If you changed your W-4 mid-year using the Tax Withholding Estimator, the IRS reminds employers that the same form applied to a full year may over- or under-withhold, so revisit it in January.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my paycheck different from the calculator?
Common reasons: your employer rounds differently, you have benefits or deductions we did not include, your W-4 entries differ, the pay period has a different number of hours, or Social Security stopped because you reached the wage base. Our figures are an average paycheck for a full year at a steady salary.
Do I pay Social Security on all of my income?
No. Social Security tax applies only to wages up to the year’s wage base, which is $184,500 in 2026. Medicare has no cap, and the Additional Medicare Tax adds to it on high wages.
Does a 401(k) contribution lower my taxes?
A traditional 401(k) lowers federal income tax withholding and, in most states, state income tax. It does not lower Social Security or Medicare. A Roth 401(k) lowers none of them now, but qualified withdrawals later are tax-free.
Are tips and overtime tax-free in 2026?
Not on your paycheck. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare are still withheld. You may be able to deduct qualified tips and the qualified overtime premium on your return, and you can reduce your withholding now through Step 4(b) of a new W-4.
Why do I owe tax even though tax was withheld all year?
Usually because withholding was based on incomplete information: two jobs without Step 2, a working spouse, income without withholding (interest, freelance work), or a large bonus withheld at the flat rate when your actual rate was higher. The fix is a new W-4.
What if I live in one state and work in another?
Generally the state where you work can tax wages earned there, and your home state taxes all your income but gives a credit for tax paid to the other state. Some neighboring states have reciprocity agreements so you only pay your home state. Our calculator assumes you live and work in the same state.
How do I get a bigger paycheck legally?
Make sure your W-4 reflects your real situation. If you claim dependents, expect the new deductions or itemize, entering them in Steps 3 and 4(b) lowers withholding. Pre-tax benefits such as a Section 125 health plan or HSA also lower taxes. Lowering withholding below what you owe only shifts the bill to tax time.
Sources
Every figure on this page is read from our data files, which store the source document, its date and notes for each record. The main sources are:
- IRS, Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods
- IRS, Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide
- IRS, Publication 15-B (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments)
- IRS, Form W-4 (2026), Employee’s Withholding Certificate
- IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts: Individuals and workers
- IRS, Topic no. 560, Additional Medicare Tax and Topic no. 608, Excess Social Security tax withheld
- IRS, Tax Withholding Estimator
- State revenue departments, linked from each state paycheck page
How we collect, check and update these figures is described in our methodology. These are estimates, not tax advice; see the disclaimer.