Paycheck take-home estimator ESTIMATE
A rough 2026 federal income-tax and FICA look at one salary. Not a W-4 and not payroll software.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Bracket and standard-deduction amounts are for tax year 2026 from IRS IR-2025-103. The Social Security wage base is the 2026 figure from SSA and IRS Topic 751.
Estimated take-home ESTIMATE
How the 2026 estimate is built
The income-tax piece subtracts the 2026 standard deduction — $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly — and runs the rest through the 2026 rate schedule in IR-2025-103. For a single filer, 10% applies to taxable income up to $12,400, 12% to the amount over $12,400 up to $50,400, 22% over $50,400 up to $105,700, then 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37% at the thresholds in that release. Head of household and married filing separately brackets are not in this estimator. Credits, itemized deductions, and the extra senior deduction are not applied.
On $75,000 of gross pay, single, with no pre-tax amount and no state tax, taxable income is $58,900. Federal income tax is $1,240 + $4,560 + $1,870 = $7,670. Social Security is 6.2% of $75,000 = $4,650. Medicare is 1.45% = $1,087.50. Nothing is over the $200,000 Additional Medicare withholding line. Annual net is $61,592.50, or about $2,368.94 each biweekly paycheck before any pre-tax deduction you add back in.
FICA for 2026
IRS Topic 751 states the Social Security rate at 6.2% for the employee and 6.2% for the employer, and Medicare at 1.45% each. For earnings in 2026 the Social Security wage base is $184,500. Medicare has no wage base. Employers withhold the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages paid over $200,000 in the year, without regard to filing status, and there is no employer match. The employee’s final Additional Medicare Tax can differ by filing status ($250,000 married filing jointly, $125,000 married filing separately, $200,000 for others — see Topic 554). This take-home figure follows the withholding rule, not the couple’s combined return.
Actual paychecks use Publication 15-T withholding methods and the Form W-4, not a homemade standard-deduction shortcut. State tax here is only the flat percent you type. Local tax is ignored. The employer’s matching FICA is on the payroll tax estimator, because it is not part of take-home pay.
Sources
- IRS IR-2025-103 — tax year 2026 standard deduction and marginal rates. Details are in Revenue Procedure 2025-32.
- IRS Topic 751 — Social Security and Medicare rates, the 2026 wage base of $184,500, and Additional Medicare withholding.
- SSA contribution and benefit base — 2026 base $184,500 and the 6.2% employee and employer OASDI rates.