This tool does not provide financial, investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice, and using it does not create any advisory or professional relationship. It is a self-service calculator for general educational and informational purposes only. Nothing it displays should be taken as a recommendation to choose any contribution election, W-4 setting, or other action. This tool also sells nothing — it runs no ads and has no affiliate, referral, or sponsorship relationships with any brokerage, bank, payroll company, advisor network, or financial company, so it earns nothing from what you decide and has no incentive to steer you toward any product or provider.
The planner projects your 2026 federal balance the way the IRS Withholding Estimator does: your year is modeled as the year-to-date figures from your stubs plus your current per-check amounts repeated for the paychecks that remain, taxed with the 2026 brackets, standard/itemized deduction, the child tax and other-dependent credits, the 2025–2028 overtime/tips/65+ deductions, and Additional Medicare tax. Suggested W-4 entries use the IRS 2026 Pub 15-T percentage method (the automated-payroll formula, for 2020-or-later W-4s) — the same structure your payroll system uses. But your actual April refund or balance due depends on your full year and complete return: a raise, a bonus, a job change, or lumpy overtime after you run the numbers all move the target, which is why the planner tells you to re-check in January (and any time pay changes materially).
The planner covers W-2 wage households with one to three jobs. It models the child tax credit and other-dependent credit (with phase-outs), the standard or a user-entered itemized deduction, the 2025–2028 overtime-premium, tips, and 65+ deductions (with caps and phase-outs), other income, adjustments, estimated payments, and household Additional Medicare tax. It deliberately does not model the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits, self-employment tax, capital gains rates, AMT, NIIT, credit refundability limits, or state income taxes (a W-4 controls only federal withholding) — if those apply to you, use the IRS Withholding Estimator or IRS Publication 505 instead. The overtime-deduction math assumes your overtime is FLSA time-and-a-half; other premium rates change the deductible portion. Employers may also withhold the automatic 0.9% Additional Medicare surtax on a single job over $200,000 — like the IRS estimator, this planner conservatively doesn't count that as an income-tax credit.
Every figure is a projection built from the inputs you provide using simplified math. Tax rules change — sometimes retroactively. Actual results will differ. No accuracy, completeness, or outcome is promised, and the calculations may contain errors. Do not make financial decisions based on this tool alone.
If your tax picture is complicated, a fee-only fiduciary advisor or CPA who is paid for advice rather than for selling a product is worth real money.
This is an independent, privately made tool. It is not created, endorsed, sponsored, or reviewed by any government agency, employer, payroll processor, brokerage, or financial company.
This tool is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of accuracy, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the author shall not be liable for any loss or damages of any kind arising from your use of, or reliance on, this tool or its output. Your use is entirely at your own risk.
This tool is free to use. If a "tip" or "support" option is offered, any payment is a voluntary gift, is not a purchase of the tool or of any service, is not required to use any feature, and is non-refundable. Supporting the project does not entitle you to advice, support, or any particular result, and does not change any part of this disclaimer.
The tool and this notice may be updated at any time; the "Last updated" date above reflects the latest revision. Continued use means you accept the current version.
© 2026 Marcus Cunningham. All rights reserved. This tool is free to use, and you're welcome to share the link — but its code is not licensed for reuse, redistribution, rehosting, or repackaging. Please point people to the official site rather than copying the page.