About PayCalc.fyi
PayCalc.fyi is a free, ad-free salary and tax calculator built for US workers who want to know exactly what their offer letter is actually worth after taxes — down to the dollar, for every state.
Who Built This
Software Engineer & Personal Finance Researcher
I'm a software engineer based in Nepal, working remotely for a US-based company in Minnesota. Before building PayCalc.fyi, I spent years working with clients in financial software — specifically loan origination and mortgage management systems — where understanding how income, taxes, and deductions interact at the individual level was part of the daily work.
That background naturally led me to study US tax law in depth: how progressive brackets work, how FICA is calculated, how state income taxes vary, how pre-tax deductions reduce liability. When I looked for a tool that put all of that together accurately — for all 50 states, with real bracket math — I couldn't find one that wasn't either wrong, ad-laden, or paywalled. So I built PayCalc.fyi to be the tool I wished existed: free, accurate, and transparent about exactly how every number is calculated.
I'm not a licensed CPA or tax attorney. What I bring is years of hands-on experience building financial software, a deep familiarity with IRS publications and SSA guidance, and a commitment to verifying every number against primary sources. I update the data each year when new brackets are published.
Why This Calculator Is More Accurate Than Most
Most free salary calculators use a single effective tax rate estimate — often 25–30% — applied to your gross. That's not how taxes work. Here's what we do differently:
- True progressive brackets — we apply the actual 2026 federal brackets (10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%) to each slice of income, not a flat rate. Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
- Correct FICA math — Social Security at 6.2% is capped at the $$184,500 wage base. Medicare at 1.45% has no cap. The 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies above $200k. Source: SSA COLA announcement.
- All 50 state brackets — including progressive, flat-rate, and no-income-tax states. State standard deductions are applied where they exist. Sources: individual state department of revenue publications.
- Filing status applied correctly — single, married filing jointly, and head of household each have different standard deduction amounts and bracket widths, per IRS Publication 501.
- SE tax for 1099 workers — self-employment tax at 15.3% on 92.35% of net income, with the employer-half deduction applied before calculating federal tax, per IRS Publication 334.
- Child Tax Credit — $2,200 per qualifying child under 17 (2026, OBBBA) with phase-out above $200k (single) / $400k (married), per IRS Child Tax Credit guidance.
- SDI for 6 states — CA, NJ, NY, WA, HI, RI mandatory payroll taxes calculated with correct 2026 rates and wage bases.
What's Not Included
No calculator can replace a CPA. Limitations include:
- AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) — affects a small number of high earners with heavy deductions
- State-level child/dependent credits (CA, NY, CO, MA each have their own)
- Investment income (capital gains, dividends) — taxed at different rates
- Business deductions for self-employed workers beyond the SE tax deduction
- Local city taxes outside of the major cities we auto-fill (advanced mode)
Update Schedule
Tax data is reviewed and updated every year when the IRS publishes inflation adjustments (typically October/November) and when states publish their annual revenue guidance. The current data reflects 2026 tax year figures. Last reviewed: May 2026.
Privacy
No personal data is collected. Every calculation runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to our servers. The only analytics is Plausible Analytics, a GDPR-compliant, cookie-free platform that measures page traffic only, not individuals. See the full Privacy Policy.