Paycheck Simulator

A pay amount is incomplete without its unit and schedule. An hourly rate applies to paid hours, while an annual salary describes the entered scheduled year. The calculator keeps these relationships together when you change units. Paid leave retains regular pay, unpaid leave reduces scheduled pay, and enabled overtime applies only to worked weeks. This distinction matters when comparing an hourly offer with a salary or a contract that includes time away from work.

The gross conversion rows are calendar averages rather than a promise about the dates or sizes of actual payments. They use 12 months, 24 half-months, 26 two-week periods and 52 weeks. The paid-hour equivalent divides the same annual gross by entered paid hours, including enabled overtime hours. A calendar workday uses the entered workdays per week. Review the schedule before using a rounded displayed conversion in another calculation. Changing a unit preserves more precision internally than the compact result may display; it does not create additional annual income.

The federal calculation uses the shared 2026 standard deduction and progressive brackets for the selected filing status. Different portions of taxable income can fall into different brackets. The displayed federal marginal rate therefore describes the top modeled taxable dollar, while the included effective rate divides federal, modeled state and FICA or self-employment taxes by gross pay. These measures have different components and should not be treated as interchangeable.

A retirement contribution is a cash outflow even when it reduces modeled taxable income. Qualifying employee health premiums and payroll HSA contributions can also reduce the modeled payroll base, while direct HSA contributions do not reduce employee FICA. The calculator does not determine coverage, plan eligibility, employer contribution room or final allowed deductions. Review those facts separately before entering a qualifying amount. The cash ledger subtracts deduction cash once and keeps it separate from tax. A tax reduction does not mean that the entire contribution remains available to spend, and a contribution percentage is not a certification of statutory room.

An employee salary and contractor revenue are different contracts even when their recurring gross amounts match. The contractor model subtracts entered business costs before calculating its supported profit and self-employment taxes. It uses the adjusted-earnings threshold, the Social Security cap, uncapped regular Medicare and applicable Additional Medicare. The income adjustment for half of regular self-employment tax excludes Additional Medicare. This is a simplified single-income planning model rather than a complete business or household return.

Work costs and replacement benefits also need explicit treatment. The comparison shows contractor cash after replacement benefits only when you supply that annual assumption. Employer retirement matching is shown separately as noncash compensation, not money available to pay bills. Unspecified benefits are not assumed to be free, and the calculator does not automatically value insurance, leave, job security or business risk. Use common annual hours and review every cost before interpreting a difference. The quarterly display divides modeled annual federal and self-employment tax into four planning amounts; it does not establish required estimated payments or penalty protection.

The raise and target-pay views reuse the current cash assumptions, so their changes can be traced to the same annual receipt. Bonus results distinguish a narrow 22% federal illustration from an annual liability difference. Neither determines actual employer withholding. Roth and Traditional comparisons use an equal modeled cash cost and entered return and withdrawal-tax assumptions; they do not establish eligibility or certify tax-free withdrawals. Career totals are hypothetical projections with fixed 2026 rules and entered costs, not forecasts of future tax law, inflation or investment returns.

The state comparison is an estimate under the route’s stated coverage and cannot replace a reviewed state return or account for every local levy. Read unavailable results as missing support, not zero tax. Your working inputs remain in the tab unless you explicitly save, export or share them. A default shared link redacts financial values; a full link requires reviewing the included scenario and consenting. Earlier saved data remains available for recovery, and incoming saved or linked scenarios require review before they replace the current inputs.