Updated · Built and checked by the PlinzoTools team, formulas tested against published sources
Estimate your federal withholding per paycheck from your salary, filing status, and dependents.
This tool gives a simplified estimate of your federal withholding per paycheck, based on your annual salary, filing status, pay frequency, and dependents. This is a simplified estimate, not a replacement for the actual W-4 form or the IRS's own Tax Withholding Estimator -- your employer's real withholding uses the IRS Publication 15-T percentage-method tables together with the specific elections on your actual W-4 (multiple jobs adjustments, extra withholding, other income/deductions lines), which this tool does not fully replicate.
Enter your annual salary, pay periods per year, and number of dependents under 17, and select your filing status. An estimated per-paycheck federal withholding appears instantly.
Under the hood, this calculator follows a simple chain of steps. It subtracts a standard deduction (chosen by your filing status, single or married filing jointly) from your annual salary, runs the remaining taxable amount through a set of progressive federal brackets, subtracts a flat 2,200 dollar credit for each dependent under 17 you enter, and then divides the resulting annual tax by the number of pay periods. The result is a single per-paycheck number plus an approximate annual total.
Because the bracket thresholds, standard deduction, and child tax credit amounts are adjusted or changed by law over time, always confirm the current figures on IRS.gov before relying on any estimate for planning. Treat this page as a way to build intuition about how the pieces fit together, not as a payroll engine.
Suppose, purely for illustration, that the tool computes an annual federal tax of 6,000 dollars for a single filer paid 26 times a year. The per-paycheck figure is 6,000 divided by 26, or about 230.77 dollars. Now imagine the same person adds two dependents under 17. The tool subtracts 2 x 2,200 = 4,400 dollars in credits, leaving 1,600 dollars of annual tax, or about 61.54 dollars per paycheck. Changing the pay periods to 12 instead of 26 would not change the annual tax at all, only how it is sliced: 1,600 divided by 12 is about 133.33 dollars per monthly paycheck.
Per paycheck = (progressive tax on (salary - standard deduction) - 2,200 x dependents) / pay periods
Real withholding is more detailed. Your employer applies payroll tables tied to your pay frequency and the choices on your Form W-4, including the multiple-jobs section, any extra withholding you requested, and adjustments for other income or deductions. This calculator also does not include Social Security or Medicare payroll taxes, state or local income tax, head-of-household or married-filing-separately status, bonuses or supplemental wage rules, or a second earner in the household. Two-income couples and people with side income are the situations where a simple estimate is most likely to miss.
Withholding is not the same as what you ultimately owe. It is a prepayment. If too little is withheld across the year you may owe money at filing time, and if too much is withheld you receive a refund, which is effectively an interest-free loan to the government. Use the estimate as a sanity check on whether your paycheck is in the right neighborhood, then use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, a tax professional, or your payroll department to decide whether to submit a new W-4.
Consider talking to a qualified tax preparer if you have multiple jobs, self-employment income, large life changes such as marriage or a new child, or a history of large balances due or refunds.
No -- for your actual W-4 form, use the IRS's own Tax Withholding Estimator at irs.gov, which accounts for your complete situation. This tool is for a rough, quick estimate only.
Employers use payroll withholding tables and the specific choices on your Form W-4, such as multiple-jobs adjustments and extra withholding. This tool uses a simplified standard-deduction and bracket calculation, so differences are expected.
No. Pay periods only change how the same annual tax is divided across paychecks. Weekly checks are smaller than monthly checks, but the yearly total in this model is identical.
No. Those payroll taxes are separate from federal income tax withholding and are not part of this calculation. State and local income taxes are also excluded.
Consider it after major life events such as marriage, a new child, a second job, or a large change in income. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator on IRS.gov is the recommended way to check.
Reference: Internal Revenue Service