2026 Federal Tax Estimator

Filing status

Sample scenarios

Ordinary income

Wages and other ordinary items for you and your spouse.

You

Spouse

W-2 wages

Interest

IRA / pension

Taxable Social Security

State tax refund

Short-term capital gains

Non-qualified dividends

Other ordinary

Schedule C net

Preferential income is stacked on top of taxable ordinary income at 0% / 15% / 20%.

You

Spouse

Long-term capital gains

Qualified dividends

The deduction field is pre-filled with the standard deduction. Enter a higher number to itemize.

Standard or itemized deduction

Above-the-line deductions

Investment losses

Loss carryover from prior years

MFJ standard deduction is $32,200. Capital losses offset ordinary income up to $3,000.

Credits in this sheet are nonrefundable. They cannot take net tax below zero.

Child tax credit & other nonrefundable

Solar credit

EV credit

Other nonrefundable credits

Federal income tax withheld

How this estimator calculates

Total ordinary income is the sum of the ordinary fields (you + spouse when MFJ or MFS).
Total LTCG / qualified dividends is the sum of those preferential fields.
Deduction is whatever is in the standard / itemized field.
Capital loss against ordinary is the lesser of $3,000 and losses plus carryover.
Taxable ordinary = max(0, ordinary − deduction − capital loss − above-the-line).
Ordinary tax is the 2026 progressive rates on taxable ordinary income.
Preferential income is stacked after ordinary income through the 0% / 15% / 20% LTCG brackets.
Net tax = max(0, total tax − nonrefundable credits).
Due or refund = net tax − withheld. Bi-weekly = that amount ÷ 26.