Tax Bracket Calculator

It starts from your income, subtracts the deductions you are entitled to, and runs what is left through the 2026 federal brackets one slice at a time. Enter your adjusted gross income: pensions, traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals (including required minimum distributions), the taxable part of Social Security, interest, ordinary dividends, and any wages or consulting income. Tick the 65-or-older boxes and the calculator adds the extra standard deduction for age and the new senior deduction, reduced for income where the law requires.

The results show the total federal income tax, your marginal rate (the rate on the next dollar), your effective rate (tax divided by income), and how much taxable income still fits in your current bracket before the next rate applies. That last figure is the one to use when sizing a Roth conversion or deciding how much to draw from an IRA this year.

Illustrative example: the people and figures below are hypothetical, not real clients. Numbers are calculated from the stated assumptions.

The calculator opens on a hypothetical married couple, 68 and 66, both retired. Their income is a $38,000 pension, $45,000 of IRA withdrawals, $6,000 of interest, and $60,000 of Social Security between them, of which 85%, $51,000, is taxable. That puts their adjusted gross income at $140,000. Their deductions come to $47,500: the $32,200 joint standard deduction, $3,300 for being over 65, and $12,000 of senior deduction. Taxable income is $92,500, federal tax is $10,604, the effective rate is 7.6%, and $8,300 of room remains in the 12% bracket.

Almost everything except Roth money, capital gains and qualified dividends. The brackets apply to ordinary income, and in retirement that means:

• Traditional IRA, 401(k) and 403(b) withdrawals, including required minimum distributions, which begin at 73, or 75 if born in 1960 or later (SECURE 2.0). Every dollar is ordinary income.
• Pensions and the taxable part of annuity payments. A pension funded with pre-tax contributions is fully taxable; a commercial annuity bought with after-tax money is taxable only on its earnings.
• Up to 85% of Social Security, depending on your other income (next section).
• Interest and non-qualified dividends, including money market and CD interest. Municipal bond interest is exempt from federal tax but still counts in the Social Security calculation.
• Roth conversions. The converted amount is ordinary income in the year you convert.

Qualified Roth withdrawals are not taxed at all, and the return of your own basis in a taxable account is not income. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividends have their own rates, but they sit on top of ordinary income and so depend on it. Knowing which pile each dollar comes from is the basis of a sensible withdrawal order.

Between none and 85% of it, depending on your "provisional income": adjusted gross income excluding Social Security, plus tax-exempt interest, plus half your benefits. Below $32,000 of provisional income for a married couple filing jointly ($25,000 single), none of the benefit is taxed. Between $32,000 and $44,000 ($25,000 to $34,000 single), up to half is. Above $44,000 ($34,000 single), up to 85% is (IRS Publication 915).

These thresholds are fixed in law and have never been adjusted for inflation (Congressional Research Service), so most retirees with a pension or meaningful IRA withdrawals are already at the 85% maximum, as the default couple is. For them, Social Security simply adds 85 cents of taxable income per dollar of benefit.

The trap is for households in between. While benefits are still being phased into tax, each extra dollar of IRA income can pull up to 85 cents of Social Security into taxable income with it, so $1 of withdrawal adds $1.85 of taxable income. In the 12% bracket that is an effective rate of 22.2%; in the 22% bracket, 40.7%. The calculator does not model this, so enter the taxable part of your benefit as your return shows it, and remember that changing IRA withdrawals can change that figure. For couples in this zone, drawing more from IRAs before claiming Social Security, or converting to Roth in those years, can shrink the effect for good. The guide to claiming Social Security covers the timing, and the taxable Social Security calculator works out your real rate in the tax torpedo.

In 2026, as much as $47,500 for a married couple who are both 65 or older, before a dollar of income is taxed. Three pieces stack:

The senior deduction is the temporary one. It is $6,000 per person 65 or older, available whether you itemize or not, but married couples must file jointly to claim it (IRS). It shrinks by 6% of modified AGI above $150,000 for joint filers and $75,000 for others, and is gone by $250,000 and $175,000 respectively.

Inside that phase-out range, every extra dollar of income also removes 6 cents of deduction per eligible person. For a couple in the 22% bracket, the true rate on added income is about 24.6%; for a single filer, about 23.3%. The calculator includes this, which is why the tax on a Roth conversion in that range rises a little faster than the bracket rate alone. Because the deduction is scheduled to end after 2028, the years through 2028 are a window when the same income is taxed less than it will be afterwards.

Convert up to the top of a bracket you are content to pay, and stop before income crosses a threshold that costs more. The "room left" figure in the calculator is the first stopping point. For the default couple, the next $8,300 converted is taxed at 12%. Beyond that, the 22% bracket runs from $100,800 to $211,400 of taxable income, a band of $110,600, but other thresholds sit inside it:

The first $8,300 costs 12%. Past $150,000 of income the senior deduction starts to shrink, so the step rate is above 22%. At $218,000 of income the couple reaches the first Medicare surcharge threshold, which is the natural stopping point for many: one dollar more and both spouses pay a higher premium two years later. A conversion of $78,000 in all adds about $18,125 of federal tax this year.

Whether that is worth paying depends on the rate the money would otherwise be taxed at: when required distributions start and push income up, or when one spouse dies and the survivor files single, or when children inherit the IRA and must empty it within ten years, often during their own peak earning years. The guide to Roth conversions before RMDs works through the comparison, and the RMD calculator projects the distributions you are trying to shrink. The Roth conversion calculator shows how to fill your bracket with a Roth conversion each year until RMDs begin, and compares lifetime tax with and without the conversions. Pay the conversion tax from a taxable account if you can; paying it from the IRA itself converts less and, before 59½, can add a penalty.

On top of your ordinary income, in their own three bands. In 2026, long-term gains and qualified dividends are taxed at 0% while total taxable income is up to $98,900 for married couples filing jointly ($49,450 single), at 15% up to $613,700 ($545,500 single), and at 20% above that (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.03).

Because gains stack on top, ordinary income decides how much of the 0% band is left. A couple whose taxable ordinary income is $60,000 can realize up to $38,900 of long-term gains at 0% federal tax. Retirees in the years between leaving work and starting Social Security and RMDs often have this room, and use it to sell appreciated holdings, rebalance or reset cost basis without federal tax ("gain harvesting"). The two uses compete: room used for a Roth conversion is room no longer available for 0% gains, and a large gain adds to AGI, which can raise the taxable share of Social Security and reduce the senior deduction.

Higher up, the 3.8% net investment income tax applies to investment income once modified AGI exceeds $250,000 joint or $200,000 single. IRA distributions and Roth conversions are not investment income for this tax, but they do raise MAGI and can push other investment income over the line (IRS). This calculator treats all income as ordinary, so leave gains and qualified dividends out to see your ordinary bracket, then check the capital gains bands by hand.

Because income usually falls less than the brackets do. The survivor can file jointly for the year of death, but from the next year files single unless a dependent child lives at home, which is what the qualifying surviving spouse status requires (IRS Publication 501). Single brackets are half as wide as joint ones up through the 32% bracket, and the standard deduction halves. Meanwhile most of the income continues: a pension with a survivor option, the IRA the survivor inherits and must keep drawing from, and the larger of the two Social Security checks, since a survivor receives the higher of their own benefit and the survivor benefit, not both (SSA).

Take the default couple and assume the husband dies. The pension continues in full, the IRA withdrawals and interest are unchanged, and Social Security falls from $60,000 to $36,000. Income drops from $140,000 to $119,600, about 15% less, but federal tax rises from $10,604 to $16,300, and the survivor moves from the 12% bracket to the 22% bracket. Her income is also above the $109,000 single Medicare surcharge threshold, where the couple was well under the $218,000 joint one. Select Single, enter $119,600, and tick one age box to see it.

This is one of the strongest arguments for Roth conversions while both spouses are alive: the conversion tax is paid at joint rates, and the survivor later draws tax-free money instead of taxable IRA income at single rates.

They are separate, and the Medicare thresholds are cliffs rather than brackets. Medicare charges an income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) on Part B and Part D premiums when modified AGI from the tax return two years earlier exceeds a threshold. For 2026 premiums, based on 2024 income, the first tier starts above $109,000 for individuals and $218,000 for joint filers, and adds $81.20 a month to each person's Part B premium, with five tiers in all (CMS, 2026).

Unlike a bracket, crossing a tier by one dollar applies the whole surcharge. For a couple, the first tier costs about $1,949 a year in Part B alone, before the Part D add-on. So when you size a conversion or a large IRA withdrawal, check both the bracket room in this calculator and the distance to the next IRMAA threshold, and stop at whichever comes first unless the conversion is large enough to justify the surcharge. If income falls because of retirement, the death of a spouse or another life-changing event, you can ask Social Security to use a more recent year (SSA). The Medicare and IRMAA guide lists every tier.

• Capital gains and qualified dividends are taxed as ordinary income if you enter them. Leave them out and use the bands above.
• The Social Security calculation. Enter the taxable part of your benefit, not the whole benefit.
• Credits, the alternative minimum tax and the net investment income tax.
• State income tax. Some states exempt Social Security or part of pension income; others tax IRA withdrawals fully.
• Modified AGI. The senior deduction phase-out uses your income as entered; for most retirees AGI and the MAGI used here are the same.

Tax figures come from the IRS inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 (Revenue Procedure 2025-32). The downloadable workbook uses the same tables and defaults, and adds a sheet with every bracket and deduction so you can update it when the IRS publishes the next year's figures.