Take-Home Pay + W-4 Tuner (2026)

The Step 2 checkbox tells your employer you have more than one job (or a working spouse), so it withholds as if your standard deduction and tax brackets were cut in half. That prevents the under-withholding that happens when two incomes are each taxed as if they were your only income. This calculator approximates it by halving the standard deduction and bracket thresholds.

Bonuses are "supplemental wages" and employers usually withhold a flat 22% federal (37% over $1 million) rather than your regular bracket rate. It often looks like over-withholding, and you get the difference back at tax time. This calculator models regular paycheck withholding only.

A refund just means you overpaid during the year — you gave the government an interest-free loan. Owing a small amount (under $1,000) is actually the efficient outcome, as long as you can pay it in April and avoid underpayment penalties. The W-4 tuner helps you land near $0.

Modeling all 50 states' tax codes would make this tool enormously complex. Instead you enter your state's effective flat rate as a single percentage — close enough for a take-home estimate. Nine states have no income tax at all, so you'd enter 0.

Only roughly. The tuner annualizes your current paycheck as if it ran all year. Mid-year job changes, raises, or bonuses shift the real numbers — re-run it with your new paycheck after any change.

Step 3 (credits for dependents) reduces withholding — it accounts for tax credits like the Child Tax Credit. Step 4(c) (extra withholding) increases withholding by a flat dollar amount per paycheck. They push in opposite directions: Step 3 for money you're owed back, Step 4(c) for catching up.