Federal Income Tax Calculator
Use this free income tax calculator to project your 2023-2024 federal tax bill or refund based on earnings, age, deductions and credits.
Editor's Note:
Tax details
Federal income tax breakdown
For the 2023 tax year, we estimate you will get back
$0.00
About this income tax calculator
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How to fill out your tax details
Tax filing status: Choose from one of the four tax filing statuses available (single, head of household, married filing separately, or married filing jointly). Your filing status helps to determine which deductions and credits you can claim.
Annual gross income: In this calculator field, enter your total 2023 household income before taxes. Include wages, tips, commission, income earned from interest, dividends, investments, rental income, retirement distributions, unemployment compensation and Social Security benefits.
Age: Enter the age you were on Jan. 1, 2024. Your age can have an effect on certain tax rules or deductions. For example, people aged 65 or older get a higher standard deduction.
401(k) contributions: Enter any pre-tax contributions you made to a traditional 401(k) account in 2023. The maximum 401(k) contribution was $22,500 in 2023 ($30,000 for those 50 and older). These contributions may reduce your taxable income.
Traditional IRA: Enter contributions made to a traditional IRA. The IRA contribution limit in 2023 was $6,500 ($7,500 for those age 50 or older). You could have made a 2023 contribution until the tax filing deadline in 2024. An important note: Contributing to a traditional IRA may not have any immediate tax benefits if your income exceeds a threshold set by the IRS and you or your spouse are also covered by a 401(k).
Withheld: Enter how much your employer has withheld on your behalf, or how much you have paid in estimated taxes. If you're unsure, estimate. You will still get insights into how much you may owe.
Deductions: In the upper-left-hand corner of the tool, select either “standard deduction” or “itemized deductions.” Most Americans claim the standard deduction, which we’ve pre-filled. If you’re not one of them, change that number to the sum of your itemized deductions. (But exclude the 401(k) and traditional IRA contributions you previously entered.)
Tax credits: Enter how much you expect to claim in tax credits on your return. Common tax credits include the child tax credit, the child and dependent care credit, the earned income credit, the EV credit, and the American opportunity credit.
Other deductions and deferrals: In this field, enter any other contributions made throughout the year not accounted for elsewhere. In this section, you can also check whether you are legally blind — and if filing jointly, you can enter your spouse’s age if 65 or older as well as if they are legally blind. This can increase the standard deduction amount you’re entitled to.
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How this tax calculator works
This calculator takes the gross income entered into the “income field” and then subtracts applicable deductions and adjustments, such as 401(k) contributions, HSA contributions, and your standard or itemized deductions. This, among other factors, determines taxable income.
Then, we apply the appropriate tax bracket and rate(s) based on taxable income and filing status to calculate what amount in taxes the government expects you to pay.
The United States taxes income progressively. Generally speaking, this means that your income is divided into portions called brackets, and each portion is taxed at a specific rate. High earners pay more in taxes, as portions of their income are subject to higher tax rates.
The calculator also takes into account tax credits, which can further reduce your bill.
If you have a simple tax situation and have filled out your W-4 correctly, taxes already withheld from your paychecks might cover that bill for the year. Likewise, if you’re a freelancer or a taxpayer who must pay estimated taxes, payments you made during the year might also cover your bill.
If it turns out that your tax withholding, payments, or any credits you qualify for did not cover your liability, you may need to pay the rest at tax time. If you’ve paid too much, you’ll get a refund.
» MORE: How to adjust your W-4
The calculator’s default assumptions
This refund and return estimator assumes:
A standard deduction, but you may change to itemized deductions in the “deductions” section.
Tax credit amounts entered are assumed to be nonrefundable. Although a handful of credits can result in a refund of the overage, we do not account for this in our calculations.
The rules for whether a traditional IRA contribution is tax-deductible are complex, so this calculator assumes your IRA contributions are not tax-deductible if you already contribute to a 401(k).
Numbers entered in the “withheld” field include taxes withheld by your employer and/or any estimated taxes you have paid.
Note that this calculator does not take into account state income taxes, another type of income tax you may have to account for when filing your tax return.
