Live federal tax estimate
What will you owe — and what can you do before year-end?
Includes automatically required 2026 IRA distributions. Compare a baseline with additional withdrawals or realized long-term gains.
Estimated total federal tax
$0
Income tax + potential NIIT
Refund / amount due
$0
Based on payments
Adjusted gross income
$0
Includes taxable Social Security
Taxable income
$0
After deductions
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Sample figures. Replace the inputs with your own figures.
Optimization studio
Find room for more tax-efficient income
Each card keeps extra federal tax within your budget versus the baseline. “Both” maximizes combined additional IRA distributions plus realized gain, not investment sale proceeds.
Refund ≠ tax savings. If withholding stays fixed, adding a taxable withdrawal usually reduces your refund or increases your balance due. A larger refund alone doesn't make a strategy more profitable. A capital-loss offset or unused 0% capital-gains band can let you recognize gains without increasing federal income tax.
Your own what-if plan
Try a manual combination
$0
Federal tax with this plan
+$0
Change in federal tax
$0
Projected refund / due
Sensitivity analysis
How extra income affects federal tax
Extra traditional IRA incomeExtra realized long-term investment gain
Two separate one-at-a-time scenarios; not a forecast of market performance.
Tax worksheet
Where your estimated tax comes from
$0
Estimated capital loss carried to next year
$0
Taxable portion of Social Security
$0
2026 IRA & 401(k) RMD before deferral
Carryover is a simplified forecast; the Schedule D Capital Loss Carryover Worksheet can differ, especially with zero or negative taxable income.
Model boundaries
Rules, caveats & references
This is a planning estimate, not filing software. Federal individual income tax only. It does not calculate state tax, payroll tax, AMT, Medicare IRMAA, the tax-table rounding method, child/EITC and refundable credits, ACA subsidies, special dividends (e.g. Section 1250/collectibles), inherited IRA rules, QCDs, early-withdrawal penalties, Roth basis/conversions, SALT phaseouts, deductions with special eligibility rules, or wash sales. NIIT is approximate where capital-loss and investment-expense adjustments are complex.
- 2026 standard deductions and ordinary brackets; 2026 long-term-gain 0%, 15%, and 20% thresholds. Qualified dividends receive preferential rates when eligible.
- Traditional IRA and eligible employer-plan RMDs use 12/31/2025 balances and the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table under simplified ownership and plan assumptions. First-year IRA deferral is not permanent forgiveness.
- Capital losses first offset capital gains; only the remaining net loss may deduct up to $3,000 ($1,500 MFS) against other income. The deduction has no automatic refundable value.
- 2026 additional $6,000 deduction for eligible 65+ taxpayers is modeled with its income phaseout, plus the standard older-adult addition where applicable.
- Taxable Social Security uses federal provisional-income rules; municipal tax-exempt interest can cause more Social Security to be taxable.
Original tax law references: 2026 federal brackets & capital-gain thresholds (IRS) · 2026 deductions (IRS) · IRA & RMD factors · Capital loss rules · Social Security tax · NIIT.
2026 Retirement & Tax Planner · Runs entirely in your browser · Values rounded for display · Updated for rules confirmed October 2026