- Federal Income Tax Rates
- **TAXTABLE_TAXYEAR_DEFINITION**
| Average tax rate | This is your Federal tax divided by your total income. The average tax rate is almost always lower, sometimes by a wide margin, than your income tax bracket or marginal tax rate. |
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| Income tax bracket | This is the highest Federal income tax bracket used in calculating your total Federal tax. This is calculated by looking up the highest Federal income tax bracket that includes your taxable income. |
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| Marginal tax rate | This is the percentage paid in Federal taxes on additional income. To determine your marginal tax rate, the tool recalculates your total Federal income tax using your current income plus an additional income amount. The additional income amount is $1,000 for incomes under $100,000 and $10,000 for incomes over $100,000. We then divide the difference between your original Federal tax and the recalculated Federal tax by the amount of additional income. Your marginal tax rate captures the effect of additional income taxed in higher income brackets and the phase-out of deductions and credits. |
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- Wages, salaries, tips, etc.
- This is your total taxable income for the year after deductions for retirement contributions such as 401(k)s, IRAs, etc. This calculator is designed to work primarily with earned income taxed at ordinary income tax rates. It is not designed to calculate taxes from capital gains, business income or passive income sources.
- Filing status
- Choose your filing status. The ‘Filing Status’ table summarizes the five possible filing status choices. Your filing status determines the income levels for your Federal tax bracket. It is also important for calculating your standard deduction. Your marital status as of the last day of the year determines your filing status.
| Married Filing Jointly | If you are married, you are able to file a joint return with your spouse. If your spouse died during the tax year and you did not remarry, you are still able to file a joint return for that year. You may also choose to file separately under the status "Married Filing Separately". |
| Qualified Surviving Spouse | Generally, you qualify for this status if your spouse died during the previous tax year (not the current tax year) and you and your spouse filed a joint tax return in the year immediately prior to their death. You are also required to have at least one dependent child or stepchild for whom you are the primary provider. |
| Single | Use this filing status if you don't qualify for any other filing status. Generally, If you are divorced, legally separated or unmarried as of the last day of the year (and you are not using another filing status) you should use this status. |
| Head of Household | This is the status for unmarried individuals (or individuals considered unmarried) that pay for more than half of the cost to keep up a home for qualifying individuals who live with the taxpayer for more than one-half of the year. (The taxpayer's dependent parent does not have to live with the taxpayer but can still qualify provided you pay over half of the cost of keeping up the parent's home.). This home needs to be the main home for the income tax filer and at least one qualifying relative. You can also choose this status if you are married, but didn't live with your spouse at anytime during the last six months of the year. You also need to provide more than half of the cost to keep up your home and have at least one dependent child living with you. |
| Married Filing Separately | If you are married, you have the choice to file separate returns. The filing status for this option is "Married Filing Separately". |
- Are you someone's dependent?
- Choose 'no' if no one can claim you or your spouse as a dependent. Choose 'yes' if someone can claim you as a dependent. Choose "Both you and your spouse" if you both are dependents. (You are a dependent if someone supports you and can claim a dependency exemption for you.)
- Dependents qualifying for child tax credit
- Enter the number of dependent children that qualify for the child tax credit. To qualify, a child must be under age 17 at the end of the year. They must be either your child, one of your siblings or your foster child or a child of any of them (for example your grandchild). In addition, they must have lived with you for more than half of the year, not provide more than half of their own support and must be claimed as a dependent on your tax return. In 2024, for each qualifying child you can receive up to a $2,000 tax credit.
| Married Filing Jointly | $400,000 | $50 reduction for every $1,000 over threshold |
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| Qualified Surviving Spouse | $400,000 | $50 reduction for every $1,000 over threshold |
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| Single | $200,000 | $50 reduction for every $1,000 over threshold |
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| Heads of Household | $200,000 | $50 reduction for every $1,000 over threshold |
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| Married Filing Separately | $200,000 | $50 reduction for every $1,000 over threshold |
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- Standard deduction
- Your standard deduction is used to reduce your taxable income if you do not use Schedule A to itemize your deductions, or if your Schedule A itemized deduction is less than your standard deduction. Your standard deduction is based on your filing status. **STANDARDDEDUCTION_TAXYEAR_DEFINITION**
- Medical and dental expenses
- Enter your qualified medical and dental expenses for the year. This can include your health insurance premiums if you paid for them yourself (not through an employer sponsored plan) and you have not deducted them elsewhere. Your actual deduction is only for the amount that exceeds 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). Enter your total expenses and the tool will calculate the actual deduction based on your AGI.
- Taxes paid (generally state and local)
- Enter the total of your 1) state and local property taxes and 2) state and local income taxes. If your state does not have an income tax (or you have paid more sales tax than income tax during the year) you can choose to include state local sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes. You are limited to a maximum $10,000 deduction for taxes paid.
- Interest paid
- Taxpayers can deduct the interest paid on qualified residences for up to $750,000 in mortgage debt (the limit is $375,000 if married and filing separately). For mortgages that were originated before December 15, 2017, the limit is $1 million in total mortgage debt. This includes refinancing these mortgages as long as the amount owed is not increased as part of the refinancing.
Any interest paid on first, second or home equity mortgages over the limit is not tax-deductible. Only home equity loans that are used to buy, build or substantially improve the home that secures the loan are included. All other home equity loans do not have an interest deduction. Mortgage interest is reported on form 1098.
You can also include the amount you paid for "points" (which reduces your mortgage interest rate). Mortgage insurance premiums paid are no longer deductible.
- Gifts to charity
- Enter your total gifts of cash and non-cash to qualified charitable organizations.
- Itemized deduction
- Your total itemized deductions from Schedule A.
- Standard or itemized deduction
- This is the higher of your Standard Deduction or your Itemized Deduction.
