GlenCalc

Marriage tax calculator

Enter each partner’s income. You see the federal income tax as two single filers and as a married couple filing jointly. Federal figures for tax year 2026 from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, checked 2026-10-31.

Your answer

Marriage bonus$2,650.00
Tax as two single filers$20,190.00
Tax filing jointly$17,540.00

Worked out in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to a server.

How we worked it out

Updated as you change the numbers.

  1. Work out each partner’s tax as a single filer and add them; then work out the couple’s tax on their combined income filing jointly; compare.

Method and assumptions

For most brackets the joint thresholds are exactly double the single ones, so couples with different incomes usually get a bonus and couples with similar incomes break even. Penalties appear mainly at the top (the 35% and 37% joint thresholds are less than double) and through credits and deductions not modeled here.

Questions

Do couples pay more tax when they marry?

Usually not at the federal level: with incomes of $120,000 and $40,000 the couple saves about $2,650 filing jointly. Penalties are most common when both earn high, similar incomes.

Sources

Method and figures checked on . Every worked answer on this page is covered by an automated test. Found a mistake? Tell us.

Embed this calculator on your site

Free to use. Paste this where you want the calculator; it runs in your visitors’ browsers, sets no cookies and sends nothing to us.

Related calculators