After Tax Income Calculator
Total every layer of the tax wedge across wages, business profit and investment income — and see which tax is actually taking the most.
After Tax Income Calculator
Results recalculate instantly on every keystroke. Nothing you type is transmitted.
What this result does not account for
- Assumes a single filer taking the standard deduction; joint and itemised positions differ.
- State tax is a flat rate on taxable income, which understates graduated state systems.
- Does not model credits, retirement contributions or the qualified business income deduction.
- All investment income is treated as long-term; short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income.
In short: On $310,000 of mixed income — $220,000 of wages, $50,000 of business profit and $40,000 of investment gains — the total wedge is $96,234.92, leaving $213,765.08. That is an effective 31.04% against a 35% top bracket, and federal income tax is only 65.97% of the bill.
Formula
Long-term gains stack above ordinary income rather than replacing it, and the Social Security wage base is shared between wages and self-employment profit — wages consume it first, which is why SE tax here is mostly Medicare.
Worked Example
- Total every source. $220,000 of wages, $50,000 of business profit and $40,000 of long-term investment income is $310,000 gross.
- Compute self-employment tax first. SECA applies to 92.35% of profit, but wages have already consumed most of the $184,500 wage base, so only Medicare bites — $1,339.08, half of it deductible.
- Work down to taxable income. AGI of $309,330.46 less the $16,100 standard deduction gives $293,230.46. Long-term gains are then separated out and taxed at their own rate.
- Layer every levy. Federal ordinary $57,489.75, LTCG $6,000.00, FICA $15,224.58, SE tax $1,339.08, NIIT $1,520.00 and state $14,661.52.
- Read the composition. The wedge is $96,234.92 — an effective 31.04% against a 35% top bracket. Federal income tax is 65.97% of it, FICA 15.82% and state 15.24%.
The effective rate of 31.04% sits four points below the 35% marginal bracket, which is the number most people quote. But the more useful figure is the composition: federal income tax is barely two thirds of the bill. Payroll and state taxes together take 31.06% of the wedge, and no amount of federal bracket planning touches them.
Strengths & Limits Of This Model
Where this engine is strong
- Handles wages, business profit and investment income together rather than one source at a time.
- Shares the Social Security wage base correctly between wages and self-employment profit.
- Reports the composition of the wedge, showing that income tax is often not the largest part.
Where it stops
- Cannot replace a return; credits and deductions materially change real liabilities.
- No local income tax layer, which matters in New York City and several other jurisdictions.
- Treats the state rate as flat, so high-tax graduated states will be understated.
Practical Use Cases
Understanding your true tax burden
A bracket tells you the rate on your next dollar. This tells you the share of everything you earn, across every levy that actually applies.
Comparing a job offer against self-employment
Business profit carries SE tax that wages do not, but wages carry FICA. Compare the payroll side directly with the FICA Tax Calculator.
Evaluating a move to a no-income-tax state
State tax is 15.24% of this wedge. Set the rate to zero to see what relocation is actually worth before housing and other costs.
Planning the investment-income mix
Long-term gains at 15% plus 3.8% NIIT still beat ordinary rates substantially. Model the holding period with the Capital Gains Tax Calculator.
Methodology & Editorial Standards
This engine totals the complete federal and state tax wedge on income from three distinct sources, which is the case a single-source paycheck calculator cannot handle. Self-employment tax is computed first under SECA at 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare on 92.35% of net profit, with the critical interaction that wages consume the $184,500 Social Security wage base before self-employment income reaches it, so a high wage earner with side profit typically pays only the Medicare component. Half of SECA is deducted above the line to reach AGI. The 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 for a single filer produces taxable income, from which long-term gains are separated because they stack above ordinary income and are taxed in their own bands, here at 15%. FICA is applied to wages at 6.2% to the wage base and 1.45% uncapped, with the employee-only 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax above $200,000 tested against wages plus the adjusted self-employment base. Net investment income tax of 3.8% applies to the lesser of investment income and the excess of AGI over $200,000. State tax is applied as a flat rate to taxable income, which approximates a flat-tax state well and a graduated state less so. The engine assumes a single filer taking the standard deduction, and does not model credits, itemised deductions, retirement contributions, the qualified business income deduction, or local income taxes. The engine implements the standard published formula for this calculation. Inputs are validated for domain and sign before evaluation, and any undefined case returns an em-dash rather than a spurious value.
Computation runs in IEEE-754 double precision at full internal precision; rounding to two decimal places occurs strictly at the display layer, so no cumulative drift enters the result. All monetary outputs use accounting presentation — grouped thousands, two decimals, negatives in parentheses — so figures can be transcribed directly into a model or working paper. Division-by-zero and out-of-domain inputs return an em-dash rather than a misleading number.
This engine was reconciled against an independent reference implementation and hand-verified for the worked example above before release. Our full five-stage review process is published on the About Us page.
Disclaimer. This calculator is provided for informational and modelling purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal, medical, or engineering advice. Verify all figures with a qualified professional before acting on them.
After Tax Income Calculator — 20 Expert FAQs
20 analyst-written answers to the questions practitioners actually ask — optimised for voice and answer-engine retrieval.
What is a tax wedge?
The total of every tax on your income, not just income tax. Here it is $96,234.92 across six separate levies — an effective 31.04%.
Why is my effective rate lower than my bracket?
Because brackets are marginal. Only your last dollars are taxed at 35%; the effective rate across everything you earn is 31.04%.
Which tax takes the most?
Federal income tax at 65.97% of the wedge, but payroll and state together take 31.06% — and no federal bracket planning touches those.
Why is my self-employment tax so low here?
Because $220,000 of wages has already consumed the $184,500 Social Security wage base, so the business profit only attracts the 2.9% Medicare component.
How is investment income taxed differently?
Long-term gains stack above ordinary income at their own 15% rate, saving $8,800.00 against ordinary treatment at 37%, but they also attract 3.8% NIIT.
What is the NIIT?
A 3.8% surtax on investment income where AGI exceeds $200,000 for a single filer. It applies to the lesser of investment income and the excess.
Does this replace my tax return?
No. It excludes credits, itemised deductions, retirement contributions and the qualified business income deduction, all of which change the answer materially.
How much is a no-income-tax state worth?
State tax is 15.24% of this wedge. Setting the rate to zero shows the gross saving before housing and cost-of-living differences.
Why deduct half of self-employment tax?
Because an employer would deduct its half as a business expense. IRC 164(f) gives the self-employed the equivalent above-the-line deduction.
Is the standard deduction applied to investment income?
It reduces total taxable income, and long-term gains are then measured on top of the remaining ordinary income. The stacking order matters.
What is the keep rate?
The share of gross income you retain — 68.96% here, or $0.6896 of every dollar earned. It is the most honest single measure of a tax position.
Why show the real value in ten years?
Because an after-tax income of $213,765.08 buys $166,992.94 of today's goods in a decade at 2.5% inflation. Tax and inflation compound against you together.
Does this handle married filing jointly?
Not directly. Thresholds and brackets differ for joint filers, so treat the single-filer output as indicative only.
What about local income taxes?
Not modelled. New York City, several Ohio and Pennsylvania municipalities and others add a further layer on top of the state rate.
Should I use this for quarterly estimates?
As a starting point only. Use the Quarterly Tax Calculator and confirm with a CPA, because underpayment penalties apply to the shortfall.
Is this after tax income calculator free to use?
Yes. It is free, requires no account, and has no usage limits. ApexConverter is funded by contextual advertising, never by selling user data.
Is my data sent to a server?
No. The engine runs as Vanilla JavaScript inside your browser under our Zero-Server Client-Side Execution model. Your figures are computed locally and are never transmitted, logged, or stored.
How accurate is this calculator?
It applies the standard closed-form formula in IEEE-754 double precision, rounding only at the display layer. The engine is reconciled against an independent reference implementation before release.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. The interface is mobile-first with numeric keypad hints and is tested down to a 320-pixel viewport with no horizontal scrolling.
Can I use it offline?
Largely, yes. Because computation is client-side, the page continues to calculate without a network connection once it has loaded.