Methodology
How we calculate your tax
Every figure, its source, and the date we last checked it. Including the parts that are not finished — because a calculator that hides its gaps is the problem, not the solution.
The calculation, step by step
- 01Gross incomeWhat you enter. Wages before anything is taken out.
- 02Minus pre-tax contributionsTraditional 401(k), HSA, pre-tax health premiums. These reduce taxable income but not Social Security and Medicare wages.
- 03Minus the deductionThe standard deduction for your filing status — $16,100 single — unless your itemized deductions are larger, in which case those apply instead.
- 04= Taxable incomeThe figure the brackets are applied to. Not your salary.
- 05Brackets applied cumulativelyEach slice of income is taxed at its own rate. Your top rate applies only to the last slice, never to the whole amount.
- 06Plus FICASocial Security at 6.2% up to $184,500, Medicare at 1.45% with no ceiling, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the threshold.
- 07Plus state taxComputed separately with that state’s own brackets, deduction and exemptions.
Where the numbers come from
| Figure | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Federal brackets, all four statuses | IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, § 3.01, Tables 1-4 | 2026-08-31 |
| Standard deduction | IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, § 3.14 | 2026-08-31 |
| Social Security wage base, Medicare | SSA, Contribution and Benefit Base 2026; IRS Topic no. 751 | 2026-08-31 |
| County property tax rates | US Census Bureau, ACS 5-year 2023 (B25103, B25077, B19013) | 2026-08-31 |
| State income tax rates | Compiled source — 40 of 51 checked against the state itself | 2026-09-01 |
State-by-state verification log
We are reading every state’s figures off that state’s own publication, one at a time, and publishing what we find — including where the compiled data we started from turned out to be wrong. A state does not get its own page until it appears here as verified.
21
verified against the state
12
corrected — data was wrong
1
state has not published 2026
14
still to check
| State | Status | Document checked | What we found |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Corrected | Arizona DOR, Individual Income Tax Highlights and IRC conformity | The 2.5% flat rate was right; the standard deduction was not. Arizona has conformed to the FEDERAL standard deduction since 2019, so for 2026 it is $16,100 / $32,200. The compiled figure we held was roughly half that, overstating taxable income by about $7,750 and the bill by about $194. Corrected. |
| California | Corrected | California FTB, 2026 Instructions for Form 540-ES | The standard deduction did not match. The 2026 Form 540-ES says literally "$5,706 single or married/RDP filing separately" and "$11,412 married/RDP filing jointly, head of household"; we were serving 2025's figures. Note also that the FTB has not published 2026 brackets — its own form instructs filers to "figure your tax using the 2025 tax table", so the brackets we serve are 2025's, which is exactly what the state tells you to do. The page says so. |
| Georgia | Corrected | Office of the Governor of Georgia, press release of 11 May 2026 on HB 463 | The rate was not 5.19%. HB 463 cut it to 4.99% effective 1 January 2026, per the Governor's own release. This is the clearest illustration of why compiled sources fail: the bill was signed in MAY 2026 and backdated, so any table published before that date says 5.19% and was correct when it was written. Georgia hits its 4.99% target three years ahead of the schedule set in HB 1015. |
| Hawaii | Corrected | Hawaii DOT, tax tables and rate schedules for years beginning after 31 Dec 2024, and the 2026 payroll update | All twelve brackets match. The deduction did not: for 2026 it is $8,000 single, $16,000 joint and $12,000 head of household, and we had $4,400 / $8,800 — roughly half. Hawaii's 2024 tax cut raised the deduction in steps and the compiled source stayed anchored to the earlier figure, overstating by about $280 on an $85,000 salary. The $1,144 personal exemption was correct, and there is an additional one from age 65 that we do not apply. |
| Louisiana | Corrected | Louisiana DOR, income tax reform FAQ | The 3% flat rate matches. The deduction did not: the department publishes $12,500 single and $25,000 joint for tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, and we had $12,875 / $25,750. Our figures carried an inflation adjustment of about 3% that Louisiana does NOT apply — its FAQ gives a fixed amount and never mentions indexing. This is the inverse of the California and Massachusetts pattern: there an update was missing, here we had applied one nobody made. Corrected. Note also that Louisiana's withholding tables use 3.09%, not 3%, and the department explains that in a separate FAQ. |
| Massachusetts | Corrected | Mass.gov, "Massachusetts 4% Surtax on Taxable Income" and Circular M effective 1 January 2026 | The 5.0% rate matches; the surtax threshold did not. For 2026 it is $1,107,750 and we had $1,083,150, which is 2025's. The Fair Share threshold is indexed to inflation every year, so it expires on its own and has to be re-read each January alongside the federal figures. |
| Maryland | Corrected | Comptroller of Maryland, 2026 withholding guide and 2025 legislative session tax alert | The 2026 standard deduction is $3,400 and we had $3,350 — corrected. The brackets, including the two high-income ones added after 2024, match. Maryland is doubly incomplete in the engine: the local rates of its 23 counties and Baltimore City run from 2.25% to 3.30% and are NOT included, and since 2025 there is a 2% surcharge on net capital gains above $350,000 of federal AGI that we do not model either. |
| Mississippi | Corrected | Mississippi DOR, Pub 89-700 — Withholding Income Tax Tables and Employer Instructions (rev. 01-2026) | Same error pattern as Ohio. We held it as a flat 4% from the first dollar; Mississippi does not tax the first $10,000 of taxable income and applies 4% only above that. It overstated by roughly $400 on an $85,000 salary and proportionally more the lower the income. This was the second state where a compiled source had omitted an exempt band, which is what prompted us to go back and audit every remaining "flat" state deliberately. Exemptions confirmed: $6,000 single, $12,000 married, $9,500 head of household; deduction $2,300 / $4,600. |
| New Jersey | Corrected | NJ Division of Taxation, 2026 Form NJ-1040-ES — Rate Schedules | All seven single brackets match; one rate was wrong — the fourth is 5.525%, not 5.53%. The more important find was in the same document: New Jersey's joint and head-of-household table has EIGHT brackets, one more than the single table, including a 2.45% band between $50,000 and $70,000 that a single filer never sees. Now loaded, making New Jersey the first progressive state to drop our joint-bracket approximation warning. It also exempts filers below $10,000 ($20,000 joint) from withholding, a rule the engine does not yet model. |
| Ohio | Corrected | Ohio Revised Code § 5747.02 and the Legislative Service Commission analysis of HB 96 | THE LARGEST ERROR WE FOUND. Ohio does not apply a flat rate from the first dollar: for 2026 it taxes nothing below $27,350 of taxable income and charges 2.75% only above that. Our model charged 2.75% on almost all income — about $2,272 on $85,000 where the correct figure is about $1,585, an overstatement of 43%, and proportionally worse the lower the salary. Corrected to a two-bracket structure, 0% and 2.75%. Ohio completes a two-year transition in 2026: the top rate fell from 3.5% to 3.125% in 2025 before consolidating. |
| Oregon | Corrected | Oregon DOR, Oregon Withholding Tax Formulas 150-206-436 (rev. 31 Dec 2025) and Publication OR-ESTIMATE 2026 | All four brackets match. The 2026 exemption credit is $260 and we had $256 — corrected. Oregon is permanently tied to the federal definition of taxable income, so federal changes pass straight through. The Multnomah County and Portland metro local taxes remain outside the engine. |
| South Carolina | Corrected | SCDOR, "Information about H. 4216" | South Carolina rebuilt its entire income tax for 2026. We held the old three-bracket structure (0%, 3%, 6%); H. 4216, signed 30 March 2026, replaces it with 1.99% below $30,000 and 5.21% above. The formula the department publishes is "5.21% minus $966", which is a calculation on total income rather than a marginal bracket — we checked that it is exactly equivalent to two marginal brackets of 1.99% and 5.21% with the boundary at $30,000, since both give $597 at the cut point, so the function is continuous and the engine reproduces it without changing its logic. Still outstanding and declared: the law decouples South Carolina from the federal standard deduction and creates the South Carolina Income Adjusted Deduction, and we still serve the federal figure. It also caps the state EITC at $200. |
| Montana | Discrepancy — under review | Montana DOR | Open. Montana's site does not expose its 2026 brackets in a document our search can return — its publications are addressed by internal identifier rather than by readable URL. The 2026 Form 2 needs locating by hand. The figures we hold (4.70% and 5.65% above $47,500) remain unchecked. |
| New Mexico | Discrepancy — under review | New Mexico Taxation and Revenue, Personal Income Tax Rates | Open. The rates page exists but does not return its figures to us. The six brackets we hold (1.50% to 5.90%) remain unchecked, and New Mexico reformed its brackets in 2024, which makes it a candidate for being out of date. |
| Vermont | State has not published 2026 | Vermont Department of Taxes, GB-1210 — Income Tax Withholding Instructions, Tables and Charts 2026 (annual table) | The four RATES (3.35 / 6.60 / 7.60 / 8.75%) are confirmed exactly in the 2026 annual table. The THRESHOLDS are not: the ones we serve are 2025's. The 2026 withholding table puts its cuts at $54,675 / $126,775 / $260,225 on already-reduced wages with a $3,925 exempt band; backing that band out gives roughly $50,750 / $122,850 / $256,300, about 2.7% above what we serve — consistent with one year of indexing. We have NOT loaded those figures: they are our own derivation, not a published number, and putting an inference of ours into the engine is precisely what this process exists to prevent. What is needed is the statutory annual schedule, which is a different document from the withholding table. |
| Alabama | Verified | Alabama DOR, FAQ "What is Alabama's Individual Income Tax Rate?" and Withholding Tax Tables (01-2026) | Matches: 2% on the first $500, 4% on the next $2,500, 5% on everything above $3,000. Alabama's brackets are so compressed that the top rate arrives at $3,000, so nearly every worker pays 5% on most of their income — it is the state where the marginal and effective rates sit closest together. Its joint brackets do double ($1,000 and $6,000), but we have not loaded that as verified yet. |
| Arkansas | Verified | Arkansas DFA, rate tables and 2026 Form AR1000ES | Standard deduction of $2,470 confirmed, and both rates (2% and 3.90%) match. Arkansas gives its personal exemption as a $29 credit rather than a reduction in taxable income — the engine already treats it that way. The deduction is among the lowest in the country. |
| Colorado | Verified | Colorado DOR, Individual Income Tax Guide (January 2026) | Flat 4.40% on federal taxable income, confirmed in the current guide. Colorado is the only state whose rate can fall temporarily through a mechanism unrelated to the tax calendar: when TABOR requires a surplus refund, the rate drops for that year. There are also proposals for a permanent cut to 4.0% that are NOT in force. This one is worth reconfirming each fiscal year, not just each January. |
| Connecticut | Verified | CT DRS, IP 2026(1) Income Tax Withholding Requirements and the 2026 Form CT-W4 | Seven brackets from 2.00% to 6.99% confirmed. Connecticut phases its personal exemption down to nothing at higher incomes, which the engine does not model — so we overstate the exemption for high earners. It also fully exempts pension and annuity income below $75,000 single or $100,000 joint, and 2026 completes the full exemption of IRA distributions. |
| District of Columbia | Verified | DC Office of Tax and Revenue, Tax Year 2026 Pertinent Data Book | 2026 standard deduction: $16,100 single, $24,150 head of household, $32,200 joint — matching exactly what we hold. The District aligns its deduction with the federal one, so it moves whenever the IRS figure does. It is one of the few places where updating the federal number updates the local one too. |
| Iowa | Verified | Iowa DOR, "IDR Announces 2026 Individual Income Tax and Interest Rates" and the withholding formula effective 1 January 2026 | Flat 3.8% for 2026 confirmed: Senate File 2442 completes this year and every income level pays the same rate. Iowa revised its 2026 withholding formula expressly to absorb the federal One Big Beautiful Bill changes, so its calculation depends on the federal one more than most. If the federal deduction moves, Iowa's withholding moves with it. |
| Idaho | Verified | Idaho State Tax Commission, Individual Income Tax Rate Schedule | Flat 5.3% confirmed, cut from 5.69% on 1 January 2025. Idaho's standard deduction is set EQUAL to the federal one, which is exactly how it is loaded. Because it conforms, Idaho automatically inherits the One Big Beautiful Bill changes: the enhanced deduction for older filers and the deductions for tips, overtime and car loan interest. |
| Illinois | Verified | Illinois DOR, Booklet IL-700-T (2026) and bulletin FY 2026-15 | Flat 4.95% and a $2,925 per-person exemption for the year beginning 1 January 2026, both confirmed. The personal exemption DISAPPEARS entirely if AGI exceeds $500,000 joint or $250,000 otherwise — a cliff the engine does not yet model. |
| Indiana | Verified | Indiana DOR, Departmental Notice #1 and "Rates, Fees & Penalties" | Flat 2.95% for 2026 and the $1,000 personal exemption both confirmed. The rate is stepping down by statute — 3.05% (2024), 3.00% (2025), 2.95% (2026), 2.90% from 2027 — so the update is a calendar item, not a surprise. Indiana also gives $1,500 per dependent, which the engine does not yet apply, and its county rates are revised in January AND October rather than annually. |
| Kentucky | Verified | Kentucky DOR, "Kentucky DOR Announces 2026 Standard Deduction" and withholding formula 42A003 (10-2025) | Flat 3.5% and the $3,360 standard deduction for 2026 both confirmed. The deduction rose $90 from 2025 through indexing — a figure that changes every year and has to be re-read each January. |
| Michigan | Verified | Michigan Treasury, "State Individual Income Tax Rate for 2026 Tax Year Determined" and withholding guide 446 (Rev. 02-26) | The 4.25% rate for 2026 is confirmed by the Treasury. The personal exemption is not: the press release does not carry it, the 2025 guide gave $5,800, and we hold $5,900. Still to be confirmed against the 2026 withholding guide. |
| Minnesota | Verified | Minnesota DOR, press release of 16 December 2025 on the 2026 brackets | The four single brackets (5.35 / 6.80 / 7.85 / 9.85% at $0, $33,310, $109,430 and $203,150) and the standard deduction ($15,300 / $30,600) match exactly. The same release carries the JOINT brackets — $48,700, $193,480, $337,930 — which are not double the single ones. Loaded, making Minnesota the second state to drop the approximation warning. A $5,300 dependent exemption is not yet applied, and Minnesota indexes its brackets annually (2.369% for 2026). |
| Missouri | Verified | Missouri DOR, 2026 Missouri Withholding Tax Formula | The 2026 formula confirms the $16,100 / $32,200 standard deduction — Missouri conforms to the federal one — and the 4.7% top rate via supplemental withholding. From 2026 Missouri EXEMPTS CAPITAL GAINS entirely from state tax, the first state to do so; it does not affect the salary calculation but it is the most significant fact about the state. Kansas City and St. Louis still levy their 1% earnings tax, which the engine does not include. |
| North Carolina | Verified | NCDOR, Tax Rate Schedules | The department publishes: "For Taxable Years after 2025, the North Carolina individual income tax rate is 3.99%", matching what we serve. Further cuts may follow from 2027 through automatic revenue-trigger clauses, so this needs revisiting annually. |
| Nebraska | Verified | Nebraska DOR, Circular EN — withholding effective 1 January 2026 | Top rate of 4.55% confirmed. Nebraska has levelled its third and fourth brackets at that same rate, so the three-bracket structure we serve is the correct one. It adds a $2,050 additional deduction for unmarried filers over 65 or blind, which the engine does not apply. |
| New York | Verified | NYS Dept. of Taxation and Finance, NYS-50-T-NYS (1/26) — Annual Tax Rate Schedule 2026 | The 2026 annual schedule in the state's own withholding publication gives 3.90 / 4.40 / 5.15 / 5.40 / 5.90% at $0, $8,500, $11,700, $13,900 and $80,650, matching what we serve exactly. This entry also retracts an alarm of our own: the state advertises cuts "to 5.50% and 6.00%", figures ABOVE our rates, and we briefly read that as an inconsistency. They are the pre-cut baseline under Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2025 — 5.50 falls to 5.40 in 2026 and 5.30 in 2027. Our figures are the correct 2026 step. |
| Oklahoma | Verified | Oklahoma Tax Commission, Packet OW-2 (rev. 11-2025) — Table 7, Annual Payroll Period | Matches to the cent. The official annual table taxes nothing up to $10,100 and applies 2.50%, 3.50% and 4.50% from $10,100, $11,250 and $13,550. Our thresholds ($3,750 / $4,900 / $7,200) plus the $6,350 standard deduction give exactly those three figures. The married table in the same document, less the $12,700 joint deduction, gives exactly double the single thresholds — confirming that Oklahoma's joint brackets do double, so it drops the approximation warning too. Third state with verified joint treatment, and the first where the answer turned out to be a simple doubling rather than a table of its own. |
| Pennsylvania | Verified | PA Department of Revenue, Personal Income Tax | Flat 3.07% confirmed. The department states expressly that Pennsylvania "does not provide for a standard deduction or personal exemption", which is exactly how it is loaded. Pennsylvania does have Tax Forgiveness, a low-income reduction that can wipe out the bill entirely and that the engine does not model. |
| Utah | Verified | Utah State Tax Commission, Publication 14 — Withholding Tax Guide | The 4.5% rate is confirmed. But we hold it simplified: Utah's Taxpayer Tax Credit is not a fixed $966 — it is 6% of allowable deductions, phasing down with income until it disappears. Our flat credit overstates the relief for high earners and may fall short for low ones. The formula needs modelling, not the average. |
| Virginia | Verified | Virginia Tax, "New Virginia Tax Laws" and the 2026 Form 760ES | Standard deduction of $8,750 / $17,500 and the $930 personal exemption confirmed; all four brackets match. FORWARD WARNING: Virginia's raised standard deduction SUNSETS after tax year 2026 and reverts to $3,000 / $6,000 unless the legislature extends it. It is the sharpest scheduled reversal we have seen in any state. There is also $800 of extra exemption for age or blindness that we do not apply. |
| Wisconsin | Verified | Wisconsin DOR, "Tax Rates" and the 2026 Form 1-ES Instructions | Structure confirmed: four brackets from 3.50% to 7.65% and a $700 personal exemption. Wisconsin adds $250 of exemption from age 65, which the engine does not apply. Its brackets are indexed to inflation off an August 2024 base year, so they expire each tax year. |
| Kansas | State site blocks access | Kansas DOR, 2026 Form K-40ES and withholding guide KW-100 | Blocked, not wrong. The ksrevenue.gov server refuses connection from here — it times out, as it did in the initial sweep of all 51 state domains. This needs opening in an ordinary browser and transcribing by hand. The figures we serve (5.20% and 5.58% above $23,000, $3,605 deduction, $9,160 exemption) remain unchecked, and the page says so. |
Retirement rules, checked separately
A state’s rate and its treatment of retirement income are two different things, and one being right tells you nothing about the other. So they carry two logs. Of the 34 partial exclusions loaded, 28 were read off the state’s own publication and 6 still come from a compiled source and say so on the page where they appear. Every state below turned up at least one detail the aggregators had flattened.
| State | Document | Checked | What it said |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | California FTB, AB 53 bill analysis; Publication 1005 — Pension and Annuity Guidelines | 2026-09-01 | This corrects us on a headline claim. We were saying California and the District of Columbia were the only two places that tax military retirement in full. AB 53 changed that: from tax year 2025 through 2029 California excludes up to $20,000 of military retirement and Survivor Benefit Plan pay, capped at $125,000 of AGI single or $250,000 joint. California had been the last state in the country with no military exemption at all. Confirmed at the same time that it offers no general retirement exclusion — pensions, 401(k)s and IRAs are taxed as ordinary income, while Social Security and tier 1 railroad retirement are exempt outright. |
| MN | Minnesota DOR, Qualified Public Pension Subtraction; Minn. Stat. § 290.0132 | 2026-09-01 | Minnesota does have a subtraction and we had missed it — but it is narrower than its size suggests. Up to $12,500 single and $25,000 joint, and only for state and federal employees whose work did not earn Social Security credit. It phases out from $78,000 of AGI single and $100,000 joint, losing 10% for every $2,000 above. |
| OR | Oregon DOR, Oregon subtractions and Schedule OR-ASC instructions | 2026-09-01 | Oregon has no general retirement exclusion, but federal retirees get a proportional one that no other state copies: you subtract the share of your federal pension attributable to service before 1 October 1991, worked out from months or points either side of that date and fixed once for life. |
| NE | Nebraska DOR, Military Retirement Benefits Exclusion | 2026-09-01 | Confirmed: no general pension or IRA exclusion in Nebraska. Since tax year 2022 it does exclude 100% of military retirement, replacing an older scheme of 40% for seven years or 15% for life that had to be elected within two years of retiring — a deadline many veterans missed. |
| ND | North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner, Military Service Members guideline | 2026-09-01 | Confirmed: no general retirement exclusion in North Dakota — though at a 2.5% top rate it costs less than it would elsewhere. Military retirement is deducted in full, as is all National Guard and Reserve pay including bonuses and training, from tax year 2023. |
| OR | Oregon DOR, Tax benefits for families (credits page) | 2026-09-01 | This one corrects us. We had Oregon's earned income credit at 17% of the federal credit, or 14% without a young child. The Department's own page says 12% with a dependent under three and 9% otherwise — roughly half what we were showing. Corrected. |
| RI | RI Division of Taxation, PUB 2026-01 Retirement Income Tax Guide | 2026-09-01 | Rhode Island has raised this modification twice in three years: $15,000 through 2022, $20,000 for 2023 and 2024, and $50,000 from tax year 2025. Any source still quoting $20,000 is out of date, which is most of them. |
| LA | Louisiana DOR, income tax reform FAQ — annual retirement exemption | 2026-09-01 | Louisiana doubled its retirement exemption from $6,000 to $12,000 for tax years from 1 January 2025, and indexed it to inflation. It is per person, so a couple both over 65 can exclude $12,000 each. |
| AL | Alabama DOR, Income Exempt from Alabama Income Taxation; Rule 810-3-19-.04 | 2026-09-01 | Alabama is the clearest case of a rule that a dollar figure cannot express: a defined benefit pension is exempt in full, while an IRA or 401(k) distribution is ordinary taxable income. Two retirees with identical incomes pay very different Alabama tax depending only on which kind of plan paid them. |
| DC | DC OTR, testimony on the Pension Exclusion and Restoration Act; D.C. Law 20-155 | 2026-09-01 | A negative finding worth publishing: the District's $3,000 exclusion for federal and DC government pensions from age 62 was REPEALED for tax years from 1 January 2015, and repeated bills to restore it have not passed. Sources still quoting it are describing a rule that ended a decade ago. |
| CT | CT DRS, Pension Income | 2026-09-01 | 2026 is the first year Connecticut retirees see the whole exemption. IRA distributions phased in at 25% in 2023, 50% in 2024, 75% in 2025 and 100% now. Note that the pension and annuity thresholds ($100,000 / $150,000) are NOT the Social Security ones ($75,000 / $100,000) — two different tests, easily conflated. |
| KY | Kentucky DOR, Individual Income Tax | 2026-09-01 | The $31,110 exclusion is confirmed. The source adds something the aggregators drop: anyone retired from federal, Kentucky state or Kentucky local government service performed before 1 January 1998 may exclude more than that. |
| DE | Delaware Division of Revenue, Personal Income Tax FAQs | 2026-09-01 | Delaware's cut-off is 60, not the 65 almost every other state uses: $12,500 from that age and $2,000 below it. Assuming 65 would have written off five whole cohorts. |
| VA | Virginia Tax, Deductions / Form 760 Instructions | 2026-09-01 | The age deduction is $12,000, but it is withdrawn a dollar at a time above $50,000 of income ($75,000 joint), so it is gone entirely by $62,000 and $87,000. The income that counts is federal AGI MINUS Social Security, which makes it survive further up the scale than the headline suggests. Filers born on or before 1 January 1939 keep it in full. |
| WV | West Virginia Tax Division, Senior Citizen Social Security Modification | 2026-09-01 | The phase-out is confirmed: 35% in 2024, 65% in 2025, 100% in 2026. And a detail that changes the answer — the $8,000 senior modification and the Social Security modification do not stack; you take the larger. Below $50,000 of federal AGI ($100,000 joint) the exemption was already complete throughout the phase-in. |
| UT | Utah State Tax Commission, Retirement Credit (code 18) and Social Security Benefits Credit (code AH) | 2026-09-01 | Utah gives CREDITS, not exemptions: up to $450 per person ($900 for a couple) for anyone born on or before 31 December 1952, withdrawn at 2.5% above $25,000 / $32,000; plus a Social Security credit of 4.5% of benefits, withdrawn at 2.5% above $54,000 / $90,000. The published figures are for tax year 2025. |
| IA | Iowa Department of Revenue, Retirement Income Tax Guidance | 2026-09-01 | Full exemption from age 55 confirmed, in force since tax year 2023. It covers traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP, SIMPLE, 401(k), 457(b), defined benefit plans and IPERS. It does NOT cover nonqualified deferred compensation under § 409A or nonqualified annuities. |
| CT | Connecticut DRS, Pension Income / Tax Tips for Senior Citizens | 2026-09-01 | Confirms the thresholds we already held: Social Security exempt below $75,000 of AGI ($100,000 joint), and the pension and annuity modification below $100,000 ($150,000 joint). Those are two DIFFERENT thresholds, and conflating them is an easy mistake to make. |
Property tax law, state by state
A county’s rate is only half the story. What an owner-occupier actually pays is decided as much by the state’s homestead exemption, its cap on assessment growth and the fraction of value it taxes in the first place — Texas exempts $140,000 from school tax, California caps growth at 2% a year, South Carolina taxes 4% of value while Texas taxes 100%. None of those figures appears on any competing calculator we audited, and a rate comparison that ignores them can point the wrong way entirely. All 51 of 51 are now loaded and every one was read off the state’s own publication — none from a compiled source. One gap is declared rather than filled: neither the Oklahoma Tax Commission nor its published statistics returned that state’s residential assessment percentage to us, so its county pages say so instead of repeating a figure we could not verify.
What we do not calculate
This list is the point of this page. Any calculator can produce a number; the useful question is what it left out.
- Local income tax
- Eleven states let counties or cities levy their own. We flag it on the result instead of silently omitting it.
- Alternative Minimum Tax
- Affects a small number of high-income filers with particular deduction profiles.
- Capital gains and investment income
- Taxed on a separate schedule, with the 3.8% NIIT on top above a threshold.
- Most credits
- Child Tax Credit, EITC, education and energy credits are not in the income calculator yet.
- Multi-state and part-year residency
- If you moved or work across state lines, apportionment rules apply that this does not model.
Where the AI is allowed
Nowhere near the arithmetic. The model receives figures our engine has already computed and turns them into a sentence. Any answer containing a number the engine did not produce is discarded before it reaches you — that check is automated, not a promise.
Where your data goes
Nowhere. The engine runs in your browser, so your income never reaches a server of ours. The one exception is the optional plain-English reading, which sends the rounded totals and nothing that identifies you.