US Remote Work Paycheck & Tax Calculator

It is an estimate. Your employer's payroll system applies the Form W-4 percentage method or a published wage-bracket table, and it may handle bonuses, equity, commission schedules and local surtaxes differently. This calculator takes annual tax liability and divides it evenly across your pay periods, which is close for a steady salary and off for variable pay. The closer your pay is to a fixed salary, the closer the estimate.

As a W-2 employee you are generally taxed by the state where you physically perform the work — which for most remote workers is their home state, not the employer's state. A handful of states have reciprocity agreements that waive this, and some states use the "convenience of the employer" rule that can override the physical-location default. For most people whose employer is not based in New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Nebraska, or New Jersey, the answer is straightforward: pick the state you actually work in.

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming collect no individual income tax on wages. New Hampshire taxes interest and dividends only — those were repealed in 2025 — so wage income is untaxed there too. Washington's capital gains tax applies to investment income above $262,000, not to salary or wages. That makes nine jurisdictions where remote workers pay zero state income tax on their W-2 earnings.

Yes — both federal and state income tax. Pre-tax elective deferrals come out of gross pay before Box 1 wages are computed, so they lower the base that both federal brackets and state brackets apply to. At the 22% federal bracket, a 5% deferral on a $100,000 salary saves roughly $1,100 per year in federal tax alone, plus whatever your state charges. FICA (Social Security and Medicare) is the exception for retirement deferrals: 401(k) contributions still count as FICA wages. Section 125 health premiums are different — they are excluded from FICA wages too, which is why payroll health deductions save 7.65% on top of income tax.

Tax year 2026. Federal brackets and the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household) come from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. The Social Security wage base is $184,500 per the SSA. State rates, brackets, standard deductions and personal exemptions are from the Tax Foundation tables effective January 1, 2026.

The rates are tax year 2026 from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and each state's published schedule, last verified October 6, 2026. The Methodology section works through a full $120,000 California example band by band. The calculator's Breakdown panel shows your own federal tax the same way — redo it in a spreadsheet and the totals should match. We also run an automated test suite on every code change that checks the calculator against pinned expected results.

No. Every calculation runs entirely in your browser — there is no API call, no server log, and no account. When you reload the page, every number you entered is gone. We do count page views via Vercel Analytics (cookieless, no personally identifiable information) and serve contextual ads through Google AdSense, but neither service receives your salary or tax inputs.

Withholding is an advance payment — your employer sends it to the IRS and your state on your behalf throughout the year. What you actually owe is determined when you file your return in April, after accounting for all deductions, credits, and other income. If withholding was too high, you get a refund. If too low, you pay the difference. This calculator estimates withholding, not your final tax liability — which is why it does not model refundable credits like the EITC, dependent credits, or investment income.

Social Security tax is 6.2% of gross pay up to the wage base of $184,500 in 2026. Once your gross pay crosses that threshold for the year, Social Security withholding stops — you will see it disappear from late-year paychecks if you are in that range. Medicare is different: 1.45% applies to all wages with no cap, plus an additional 0.9% on wages above $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married filers. That additional 0.9% is withheld by your employer once you cross the threshold, but the final true-up happens on your return.

The standard deduction is a flat dollar amount you subtract from your gross wages before applying the tax brackets. For 2026, it is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for married filing jointly. Only the income above that threshold is subject to federal income tax. Most states have their own standard deduction, which this calculator applies automatically based on your selected state. The deduction does not affect Social Security or Medicare, which are computed on gross pay.

Filing status changes two things: the standard deduction and the bracket thresholds. Married filing jointly has a standard deduction of $32,200 — roughly double the single amount of $16,100 — and wider brackets. At the same gross salary, a married filer generally owes less federal income tax than a single filer. However, if both spouses earn similar incomes, the "marriage penalty" can apply in some brackets where two single returns would have been taxed at a lower combined rate. Use the calculator's filing status toggle to compare directly.

Your marginal rate is the rate on your last dollar of income — the top bracket you fall into. Your effective rate is the actual average rate across all your income, which is always lower than your marginal rate because the lower brackets apply to your first dollars, not your last. For example, a single filer earning $100,000 in 2026 has a marginal federal rate of 22%, but an effective federal rate of roughly 15% after the standard deduction and the lower brackets. The calculator displays both.

Usually no — but it depends on your situation. If you live and work entirely in one state, you file one state return. If your employer is based in a state that uses the convenience-of-the-employer rule (New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Nebraska, Pennsylvania) and your work-from-home arrangement is for your convenience rather than employer necessity, you may need to file a non-resident return in that state as well. If you travel for work and spend significant time in another state, that state may also require a non-resident filing. Reciprocity agreements between neighboring states can eliminate some of these obligations.

The year you move is a part-year resident year in both states. You file a part-year resident return in the state you left and another in the state you arrived in, each covering only the income earned while you were domiciled there. The key date is when your domicile actually changed — a facts-and-circumstances determination based on where you spend time, where your family is, and where you intend to remain. Our moving calculator shows the full-year impact of twenty common state-to-state moves so you can see the difference before you go.

Yes. Click "Show the math" in the Breakdown panel after running a calculation. It lists every federal tax bracket that applies to your taxable income — the width of each band, the rate, and the tax in that band — so you can follow the arithmetic step by step. The Methodology section on this page also works through a full example at $120,000 for a California single filer.