Income Tax Calculator
A full bracket-by-bracket calculation for the tax year, using the published rates for the United States and the United Kingdom. Every band is shown with the slice of income it applies to, so you can see where the total comes from rather than taking one number on trust.
Federal income tax only. FICA, state and local taxes are not included.
Your tax bill will appear here
Pick a country, enter your gross annual income, then calculate.
Which of our tools you actually want
Income Tax vs. our Paycheck Calculator and its state versions: the paycheck tools work per pay period and land on net pay, counting FICA and state withholding along the way. This page works per tax year and lands on the bill or the refund. Want to know what shows up in your account on Friday? Use the Paycheck Calculator. Want to estimate what you owe for the year? Stay here.
Against our Bonus Pay Calculator and Overtime Pay Calculator: those deal with withholding on one single payment. This one deals with the annual reckoning where all those payments end up added together, which is often where people discover the withholding was wrong in either direction.
Our Sales Tax and VAT calculators are consumption taxes on what you buy, not taxes on what you earn. Different thing entirely, listed here only so you can find them.
Europe in perspective
Published comparison figures, not a calculation. There are no inputs here on purpose.
Top statutory personal income tax rate, 2026
| Country | Top rate |
|---|---|
| Denmark | 60.5% |
| France | 55.4% |
| Austria | 55.0% |
| Spain | 54.0% |
| Portugal | 53.0% |
| Sweden | 52.3% |
| Slovenia | 50.0% |
| Netherlands | 49.5% |
| Ireland | 48.0% |
| Germany | 47.5% |
| Italy | 47.2% |
| Luxembourg | 45.8% |
| Finland | 45.0% |
| United Kingdom | 45.0% |
| Greece | 44.0% |
| Norway | 39.6% |
| Poland | 36.0% |
| Latvia | 36.0% |
| Slovakia | 35.0% |
| Malta | 35.0% |
| Cyprus | 35.0% |
| Croatia | 33.0% |
| Lithuania | 32.0% |
| Czechia | 23.0% |
| Estonia | 22.0% |
| Hungary | 15.0% |
| Bulgaria | 10.0% |
| Romania | 10.0% |
Remaining EU countries are not shown in the source table. The average top rate among European OECD countries in 2026 is 43.4%.
34.9%
Average tax wedge
Income tax plus employee and employer social security, as a share of total labour cost. Single worker on an average wage, no children.
25.0%
Net personal average tax rate
Income tax plus the employee social security contribution, as a share of gross wage. Same worker profile.
Both OECD figures come from Taxing Wages 2025, covering the year 2024.
Quick Answer
Tax is charged in slices. In the US for 2026 you subtract the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household) and apply rates from 10% up to 37% to what remains. In the UK for 2026/27, the first £12,570 is free, then 20% to £50,270, 40% to £125,140 and 45% above that, with the allowance tapering away above £100,000. Your effective rate is always below your top bracket rate.
How It Works: Formula & Variables
The method, both countries
taxable income = gross income - deductions and allowances
tax = sum of (income inside each band x that band's rate)
effective rate = total tax / gross income x 100
Nothing about the top band applies to income below it. That single point is behind most of the confusion people have about tax brackets, and it is why the table on this page shows every band separately.
US federal brackets, tax year 2026
Standard deduction: $16,100 single and married filing separately, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household.
| Rate | Single filers | Married filing jointly |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | up to $12,400 | up to $24,800 |
| 12% | over $12,400 | over $24,800 |
| 22% | over $50,400 | over $100,800 |
| 24% | over $105,700 | over $211,400 |
| 32% | over $201,775 | over $403,550 |
| 35% | over $256,225 | over $512,450 |
| 37% | over $640,600 | over $768,700 |
UK bands, 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027
| Band | Income | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Basic rate | £12,571 to £50,270 | 20% |
| Higher rate | £50,271 to £125,140 | 40% |
| Additional rate | above £125,140 | 45% |
The Personal Allowance falls by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000, reaching nil at £125,140. National Insurance is a separate charge and is not part of any figure on this page.
Worked Examples
Example 1: US single filer on $85,000, tax year 2026
Gross of $85,000 less the $16,100 standard deduction leaves taxable income of $68,900. The brackets then apply in slices:
- 10% on the first $12,400 = $1,240
- 12% on $12,400 to $50,400, which is $38,000 = $4,560
- 22% on $50,400 to $68,900, which is $18,500 = $4,070
Federal tax comes to $9,870. That is an effective rate of 11.60% on the full $85,000, against a marginal rate of 22%. The gap between those two numbers is the whole point: being "in the 22% bracket" costs a lot less than 22% of everything.
Example 2: UK earner on £45,000, 2026/27
The first £12,570 is covered by the Personal Allowance and taxed at 0%. That leaves £32,430 of taxable income, all of it inside the basic rate band, at 20%.
- 0% on £12,570 = £0
- 20% on £32,430 = £6,486.00
Total income tax of £6,486.00, an effective rate of 14.41% with a marginal rate of 20%. National Insurance is not counted here, so take-home pay will be lower than £45,000 minus £6,486.
Key Concepts
Marginal and effective are different questions: marginal is the rate on your next unit of income, which matters for decisions about overtime, a raise or a pension contribution. Effective is the share of your whole income that goes in tax, which matters for budgeting.
Deductions come off before the brackets: in both countries the tax-free portion is applied first, then the rates run on what remains. Raising your deduction shaves income off the top bracket you reach, not the bottom.
The UK has a hidden 60% band: between £100,000 and £125,140 you lose £1 of allowance for every £2 earned, so each extra pound is taxed at 40% while also exposing another 50p to 40%. No published table lists 60%, but that is the rate you feel. The calculator works it out numerically and shows it.
This is annual, not per payslip: withholding through the year is an estimate made by your employer. The annual calculation is what decides whether you owe more or get some back.
Common Mistakes
Applying your top rate to your whole income: the single most common tax mistake there is. Brackets are marginal, and only the slice inside each band is charged at that band's rate.
Forgetting that National Insurance is missing: the UK figure on this page is income tax alone. Anyone comparing it with a payslip will find the payslip worse, and NI is usually why.
Reading the Europe panel as a calculation: those are published comparison figures for context. They are not applied to your income and they cannot be, since every country's deductions and social contributions work differently.
Comparing a US federal number with a European total: the US figure here excludes FICA, state and local tax. European headline rates often sit alongside quite different social security arrangements. Like-for-like comparison is harder than it looks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Take your gross income and subtract your deductions and exemptions. Most people use the standard deduction, which for 2026 is $16,100 filing single. Whatever is left is the figure the brackets are applied to, not your gross salary.
For tax year 2026, returns filed in 2027: $16,100 for single filers and for married filing separately, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for head of household. Itemizing only makes sense if your deductible expenses add up to more than that.
No. Each rate applies only to the slice of income sitting inside its own bracket. Earning one dollar into the 22% bracket means 22 cents on that one dollar, and everything below it carries on being taxed at 10% and 12%. This is why your effective rate always comes out lower than your marginal rate.
It is £12,570 of income taxed at 0%. It starts shrinking once your adjusted net income passes £100,000, falling by £1 for every £2 above that line, and it reaches nil at £125,140. The calculator handles the taper for you and shows the marginal rate it produces, which is considerably higher than the headline 40%.
No. The UK figure here is income tax only. National Insurance is a separate deduction with its own thresholds, so your actual take-home will be lower than gross income minus the tax shown.
The comparison panel further down this page has the published figures. The average top statutory rate across European OECD countries in 2026 is 43.4%, and the average total tax burden on someone earning an average wage, counting income tax and both employee and employer social security, is 34.9% of total labour cost.
Related Calculators
Paycheck Calculator
Take-home pay per pay period, including FICA and state withholding.
Bonus Pay Calculator
Withholding on a single supplemental payment.
Overtime Pay Calculator
Time-and-a-half, double-time, and what it does to one paycheck.
Hourly to Salary Calculator
Convert an hourly rate into the annual figure this calculator wants.
Salary Increase Calculator
What a raise does to your gross before any of this applies.
Sources
- IRS, IR-2025-103, tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 (standard deductions and federal brackets): https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill
- GOV.UK, Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (2026/27 bands and the taper above £100,000): https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates
- calculator.net, Tax Calculator (taxable income methodology): https://www.calculator.net/tax-calculator.html
- Tax Foundation, Top Personal Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2026 (country table and the 43.4% European OECD average): https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/eu/top-personal-income-tax-rates-europe/
- OECD, Taxing Wages 2025 brochure (34.9% average tax wedge and 25.0% net personal average tax rate, year 2024): https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/topics/policy-issues/tax-policy/taxing-wages-brochure.pdf