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Marriage Tax Calculator

Compare unmarried federal income taxes with married filing jointly.

Compare two unmarried federal returns with a combined married-joint return.

Compare two unmarried federal returns with one married-joint return. All money amounts are annual USD. This estimates federal income tax, not state or local tax.

Your household
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Enter annual wages for each person. Leave amounts at zero when they do not apply. Count each dependent only once, under the person eligible to claim them before marriage.

Only wages and a standard deduction? You can calculate now. Open the sections below when other income, deductions or credits apply. Defaults are zero or No.

Other income

Add business income, investment income and Social Security benefits if applicable.

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Deductions and adjustments

Standard deductions are considered automatically. Enter only eligible amounts; do not deduct the same amount twice. Check retirement contribution and deduction eligibility before entering adjustments.

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Tax credits and other adjustments

Complete only applicable items. Education credit eligibility, dependent care and AMT can affect this estimate.

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Result

Estimated annual tax savings after marriage$3,530.00
Your unmarried federal tax$8,770.00
Partner unmarried federal tax$0.00
Combined unmarried tax$8,770.00
Married filing jointly tax$5,240.00

Compared with your combined unmarried federal income tax. Savings means the married-joint estimate is lower; additional tax means it is higher. This does not compare married filing separately or include state/local tax.

Prior head-of-household status must satisfy eligibility rules. Married filing separately is not optimized. For the combined education-credit estimate, refundable AOTC is applied only if both partners select refundable eligibility.

How to use this calculator

Compare two unmarried federal returns with a combined married-joint return. Enter amounts in the units shown, select the applicable options, and click Calculate. Use Reset to restore the starting values.

Calculation formula

Marriage penalty = joint federal liability − sum of unmarried federal liabilities.

Assumptions and accuracy

Review timing, rates, fees and result notes when comparing scenarios. Future returns and rates are assumptions rather than guaranteed outcomes. Monetary display follows the currency’s precision; intermediate calculations retain additional digits.

Year-specific parameters are documented in the calculation notes. Rule eligibility and individual circumstances can change the result.

Choose what to calculate

Marriage tax penalty or bonus calculator

Compare estimated unmarried federal taxes with married filing jointly using each partner's income and deductions. State taxes and married-filing-separately comparisons are excluded.

Open this calculation

Understanding this calculation

Compare two unmarried federal returns with a combined married-joint estimate. The difference can be an annual tax saving, additional tax or no change depending on income and eligible deductions/credits.

Worked examples

Understand the tax-difference sign with zero income

Illustrative inputs are specified in the steps below; the example link loads the complete settings. Unmentioned settings use the linked defaults.

  1. Both people have zero income and no other entries in this example. Each unmarried return and the married-joint return has zero tax, so 0 − 0 − 0 = 0 difference.

Marriage penalty / negative bonus: 0 USD.

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Marriage tax savings with one 80,000 wage income in 2026

Illustrative 2026 federal assumptions, using the project’s documented parameter tables. Eligibility and actual tax filing require separate checks.

  1. Assume both people qualify as Single before marriage, with no dependents, other income, adjustments or credits.
  2. Single taxable income = 80,000 − 16,100 = 63,900; tax = 12,400 × 10% + 38,000 × 12% + 13,500 × 22% = 8,770.
  3. Joint taxable income = 80,000 − 32,200 = 47,800; tax = 24,800 × 10% + 23,000 × 12% = 5,240.
  4. Difference = 5,240 − 8,770 − 0 = −3,530, displayed as estimated annual savings of 3,530 USD.

Estimated annual federal tax savings: 3,530 USD.

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Common questions

Is the comparison married filing jointly versus separately?

No. It compares two unmarried returns before marriage with a married-joint return. Married filing separately is a different scenario.

Do I enter a dependent under both partners?

Count the dependent once under the person eligible to claim them before marriage. Duplicating a dependent can distort the unmarried baseline.

Scope and assumptions

The tool does not optimize married filing separately or include state/local income tax. Filing-status eligibility and deduction/credit qualifications must be checked.

Sources

Calculation notes checked . Examples are mathematical checks under the stated assumptions.

Calculation methods and formulas

Before vs. After Marriage

Compare two unmarried federal returns with a combined married-joint return.

Marriage penalty = joint federal liability − sum of unmarried federal liabilities.

See our calculation methodology and review status for data versions, rounding and validation limitations.

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