Federal Income Tax

2024 brackets with standard deduction.

Input

Filing status

Gross annual income (wages, salary, etc.)

Above-the-line adjustments (401(k), HSA, traditional IRA, etc.)

Reduces AGI. Roth contributions don't count here.

Deduction

Result

Self-Employment

Schedule SE tax (both halves of FICA) plus income tax.

Input

Net self-employment income

Gross revenue minus business expenses (Schedule C bottom line).

Filing status

Other taxable income (W-2 wages, etc.)

Result

Capital Gains

Short-term (ordinary income) vs. long-term (preferential) rates.

Input

Filing status

Other taxable income

Long-term rates depend on total taxable income, not just the gain.

Short-term gain (held ≤ 1 yr)

Long-term gain (held > 1 yr)

Result

Refund or Amount Owed

Compare withholding to estimated tax.

Input

Estimated federal tax owed for the year

Get this from the Federal tab.

Federal tax already withheld (from paychecks, 1099 withholding)

Estimated tax payments made (quarterly)

Refundable credits (EITC, ACTC, premium, etc.)

Result

2024 federal brackets and standard deductions. Does not include state tax, AMT, NIIT (3.8% on investment income over thresholds), additional Medicare tax (0.9%), child tax credit phase-out, or many other special rules. Treat as a planning estimate.

2024 Federal Brackets (per IRS)

Filing-status-specific brackets, applied to taxable income (after deductions):

10% — up to $11,600 (single) / $23,200 (MFJ)
12% — up to $47,150 / $94,300
22% — up to $100,525 / $201,050
24% — up to $191,950 / $383,900
32% — up to $243,725 / $487,450
35% — up to $609,350 / $731,200
37% — above

Standard deduction 2024: $14,600 (single), $29,200 (MFJ), $14,600 (MFS), $21,900 (HoH).

Marginal vs. Effective Rate

U.S. federal tax is progressive. Each bracket applies only to the income within that bracket — moving into the 22% bracket does NOT mean every dollar is taxed at 22%. The marginal rate is the rate on your last dollar; the effective rate is total tax divided by total income and is always lower than the marginal rate (above the lowest bracket).

Self-Employment Tax

Employees and employers split Social Security (12.4% on wages up to $168,600 in 2024) and Medicare (2.9% on all earnings, plus 0.9% above $200k/$250k MFJ). Self-employed people pay both halves themselves — that's "SE tax" of 15.3% on 92.35% of net SE earnings. Half of SE tax is deductible above the line.^[1]

Capital Gains

Long-term capital gains (assets held more than one year) are taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% federally depending on total taxable income.^[2] Short-term gains (held one year or less) are taxed as ordinary income at the usual brackets. For high earners, the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax also applies above certain thresholds (not included here).

References

[1] IRS — Self-Employment Tax. irs.gov [2] IRS — Topic 409 Capital Gains and Losses. irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409