Federal Income Tax Calculator

Federal income tax calculator to estimate the take home pay after paying tax for the IRS.

How to Calculate Federal Income Tax?

The Federal doesn't tax gross income. To calculate Federal income tax, first, need to use either the standard deduction or itemized deduction.

The standard deduction is $12,550 (single or married filing separately), $25,100 (married filing jointly), and $18,800(head of household) for the year 2021.

After gross income less standard deduction or itemized deduction, that is taxable income subject to Federal income tax.

Federal Income Tax Rate

The Federal income brackets from 10% to 37% for the year 2021.There are seven Federal income tax brackets, 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. The top rate is 37% for taxable income over $523,600 (single) and $628,300 (married, filing jointly).

The social security tax rate is 6.2% and the Medicare tax is 1.45% of gross income. The maximum taxable earnings for social security tax is $142,800 for the year 2021.

Single filers pay an additional 0.9% in Medicare taxes if income is over $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly). which means single filers' income over $200,000 pays 2.35% of gross income (married filing jointly pays 2.35% with income over $250,000).

There is no maximum income for medicare tax.

When to use the itemized deduction?

Itemized deduction is commonly used for real estate owners. Only take itemize deduction when itemize deduction is more than the standard deduction.

The common itemized deduction includes property tax, taxes you have paid for state and local, mortgage interest paid (up to $750,000), medical expenses, home improvements, and home office rental expenses.

Rental loss can be deducted up to $25,000 from gross income that is less than 100k annually, phrase out at $150,000. Therefore gross income is greater than $150,000, no rental loss can be deducted.

A retirement account(401k, IRA ) can be deducted after standard deduction or itemized deduction.

This calculator solely calculates the income tax you owed by IRS, you might also be subject to state or city income tax depending on your tax return address.