Paycheck calculator
Enter the pay for one paycheck and what your Form W-4 says to see the federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare taken out, and what you take home.
This answer is for the example values in the boxes above. Gross pay $2,000.00, paid every two weeks, filing as single or married filing separately. Change the boxes to see your own paycheck.
Federal income tax is the 2026 percentage method of IRS Publication 15-T. An employer may round it to the dollar.
How it works
The calculator follows the method that the IRS gives employers for federal income tax withholding, in Publication 15-T for 2026. It turns one paycheck into a year of pay and takes off a standard amount. It finds the row of the IRS table that the result falls in and works out the tax for the year. Then it divides that tax by the number of paychecks in a year.
The standard amount is $8,600 a year, or $12,900 for a married couple filing jointly. It is not taken off when the box in Step 2 of your Form W-4 is checked. The calculator then uses the other set of IRS tables, which withhold more.
The rest of your Form W-4 changes the result in four ways. The credits in Step 3 lower the tax. The other income in Step 4(a) raises the pay that is taxed, and the deductions in Step 4(b) lower it. The extra amount in Step 4(c) is added to every paycheck.
Social Security and Medicare
Social Security tax is 6.2% of your pay, up to $184,500 of pay in a year. Medicare tax is 1.45% of all your pay. Above $200,000 in a year there is an extra 0.9% Medicare tax. These are the 2026 figures in IRS Publication 15. Your employer pays a matching share of the first two, but not of the extra 0.9%.
The box for pay so far this year matters only near those limits. If you earn less than $184,500 a year, leave it at 0.
Before-tax deductions
A contribution to a plan such as a 401(k) comes out of your pay before income tax is figured, so it lowers your federal income tax. It does not lower Social Security or Medicare tax. Publication 15 lists elective 401(k) contributions as generally exempt from income tax withholding and taxable for Social Security and Medicare.
Health insurance and other benefits taken through a cafeteria plan may lower all three taxes. The calculator treats the box for them that way. Publication 15 says only that these benefits “may qualify” for exclusion from Social Security and Medicare wages, so if yours do not, those two taxes will come out a little higher than shown.
A worked example
Say you are single and paid $2,000 every two weeks, with nothing in Steps 2, 3 and 4 of your Form W-4. A year of that pay is $52,000. Take off the $8,600 and $43,400 is left.
In the IRS table for a single filer, the row that starts at $19,900 is $1,240 plus 12% of the amount over $19,900. Here that is $1,240 plus $2,820, or $4,060 for the year. Divided by 26 paychecks, it is $156.15.
Social Security is 6.2% of $2,000, or $124.00, and Medicare is 1.45%, or $29.00. With the income tax, $309.15 comes out and you take home $1,690.85.
Checked against the IRS tables
Publication 15-T also prints wage bracket tables for payroll done by hand. For pay of $1,985 up to $2,005 every two weeks, its table prints $156 for a single filer whose Step 2 box is not checked (page 18). The calculator gives $156.15 for $2,000. The 4,794 amounts in those tables were checked against this method, at the middle of each range, and every one matched.
What it leaves out
The calculator estimates what an employer withholds from one paycheck. It is not the tax you will owe when you file, which depends on your whole year. It does not figure bonuses and other supplemental pay, which have their own withholding rate, 22% in 2026 (37% above $1 million in a year). It does not cover garnishments or the rules of your state and city, for which you type a flat rate. If your Form W-4 says you are exempt, no federal income tax is withheld from your regular paychecks, and the calculator does not show that.
Sources
- IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods, published December 3, 2025, read on 2026-10-31.
- IRS Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide (Circular E), published December 15, 2025, read on 2026-10-31.
- IRS Form W-4 (2026), Employee’s Withholding Certificate, read on 2026-11-01.
Questions
How much federal income tax comes out of a $2,000 paycheck?
For a single filer paid every two weeks, with nothing in Steps 2 to 4 of the Form W-4, it is $156.15. A married couple filing jointly would see $76.15. The calculator shows yours from your own entries.
What does the box in Step 2 of the Form W-4 do?
Step 2 is for people who hold more than one job, or who are married filing jointly and whose spouse also works. The box in Step 2(c) is for exactly two jobs in total, and you check it on both forms. It tells the employer to use the IRS tables that withhold more, and the standard amount of $8,600 is not taken off. In the example above it takes the federal income tax from $156.15 to $270.19 a paycheck.
Does a 401(k) contribution lower Social Security and Medicare tax?
No. It lowers your federal income tax, but IRS Publication 15 lists elective 401(k) contributions as taxable for Social Security and Medicare. Health insurance taken through a cafeteria plan may lower all three taxes.
Why does Social Security tax stop partway through the year?
Social Security tax applies only to the first $184,500 of pay in 2026. After that it stops for the rest of the year. Enter your pay so far this year to see the paycheck where it stops.
What is the extra 0.9% Medicare tax?
It applies to pay above $200,000 in a calendar year, and only the employee pays it. Your employer starts withholding it in the paycheck that takes you over $200,000.
Is this the tax I will owe when I file my return?
No. It estimates what an employer withholds from one paycheck, and what you owe depends on your whole year. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, at IRS.gov/W4App, can help you fill in your Form W-4.
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