How the 2026 tables work
Federal income tax is graduated. Only the dollars inside a bracket are taxed at that bracket’s rate. For a single filer in 2026, the 10% rate applies to taxable income up to $12,400, the 12% rate to the next slice up to $50,400, the 22% rate up to $105,700, and so on through 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%, which begins at $640,600 of taxable income ($768,700 for joint filers). Those thresholds, and the pre-computed tax at each threshold, are printed in Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 4.01, and restated in IR-2025-103.
Your marginal rate is the rate on the next dollar of ordinary taxable income. Your effective rate on this screen is simply tax divided by the taxable income you entered — not tax divided by wages, and not tax after credits. Credits can make the rate after credits much lower, which is why a family with two children and a $7,640 pre-credit tax may owe closer to $3,240 after the Child Tax Credit.
What this tool does not do
It does not subtract the standard deduction, does not apply the preferential 0%/15%/20% rates to long-term capital gains or qualified dividends, and does not apply credits. Preferential-rate income is stacked on top of ordinary income in the refund calculator, using the 2026 maximum zero-rate and 15% amounts in section 4.03 of the same revenue procedure (for example, $49,450 and $545,500 for single filers). If you want a refund or balance due, start there rather than here.
Reading the bracket table
Each row shows the official 2026 range, the rate in that range, and how much tax this particular income creates in that slice. Most of a mid-income return’s tax often sits in the 12% row, even when people say they are “in” a higher band because a small top slice is taxed at 22%. The pre-computed bases in the revenue procedure are how we check the arithmetic: at the top of the single 10% band the tax is $1,240; at the top of the 12% band it is $5,800. If you change filing status, the thresholds move, which is why a joint table is not two times a single table in every band.
Use this tool when you already have taxable income from a draft return or from the refund calculator’s taxable-income line. Use the refund calculator when you still need to subtract the standard deduction and apply credits. The two tools answer different questions, and mixing them — entering wages here, for example — will overstate tax.