Get a rough estimate of your federal refund or amount owed before you file — free, private, no signup.
This calculator gives you a quick, private, federal-only planning estimate — enter your filing status, income, withholding, deduction type, and any credits, and it shows whether you're on track for a refund or a balance due. It runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type is sent to a server or stored anywhere, and no signup is required to see a result.
We subtract your standard or itemized deduction from income to get taxable income, apply simplified federal tax brackets for your filing status, subtract any credits, then compare the result to what's already been withheld. The gap between what you owed and what was withheld is your estimated refund (if withholding was higher) or your estimated balance due (if it was lower). This calculator only models federal income tax — it does not include state income tax, self-employment tax, additional Medicare tax, or the alternative minimum tax, all of which can change your actual result.
See the full methodology page for the exact calculation order, what's included, and what's deliberately left out.
Filing status. Your filing status sets which tax brackets and which standard deduction amount apply to you. Single, Married Filing Jointly, and Head of Household are taxed on different income thresholds, so the same income can produce a meaningfully different estimated tax between statuses. If you're unsure which status you qualify for — for example, whether you meet the requirements for Head of Household — that's worth confirming with a tax professional before you rely on the number here.
Total annual income. This should reflect your full expected taxable income for the year: wages, salary, tips, and any other taxable income sources combined, before deductions are subtracted. Leaving out a second job, freelance income, or investment income will understate your taxable income and make your estimated refund look larger than it will actually be.
Federal tax withheld so far. This is the federal income tax your employer(s) have already taken out of your paychecks (shown on your pay stubs, and totaled on your W-2 after the year ends). It is not the same as Social Security or Medicare tax withheld — those are separate payroll taxes and aren't part of a federal income tax refund calculation. If you have more than one employer in a year, add withholding from all of them together.
Deduction type. You can only use one: the standard deduction (a fixed amount based on filing status) or itemized deductions (a total of specific deductible expenses you track and list individually). Whichever is larger reduces your taxable income more. See the standard vs. itemized comparison page for the full decision framework.
Tax credits. Credits reduce your tax bill dollar-for-dollar, which makes them more valuable than a deduction of the same size (a deduction only reduces the income that gets taxed, not the tax itself). Common examples include the child tax credit, education credits, and dependent care credits — enter your best estimate of the total credits you expect to qualify for.
Here's an illustrative walkthrough — the numbers below are made up for demonstration only, not current tax-year figures, and your own result will depend on the actual brackets and deduction amounts the calculator applies for the tax year selected.
Say a single filer has $65,000 in total income, has had $7,500 in federal tax withheld so far, takes the standard deduction rather than itemizing, and doesn't expect to claim any additional credits. The calculator subtracts the standard deduction from income to find taxable income, then applies the federal bracket rates for that filing status to that taxable income to estimate the tax owed. If the estimated tax owed comes out lower than the $7,500 already withheld, the difference shows up as an estimated refund; if it comes out higher, the difference shows up as an estimated balance due. Changing any single input — say, adding $2,000 in child tax credits, or switching to itemized deductions because of a large charitable gift — will shift that result, which is exactly why it's worth running a few scenarios rather than treating one estimate as final.
This is a planning estimate, not a tax return, tax advice, or a guarantee of what the IRS will calculate. It uses simplified federal rules and does not model state income tax, self-employment tax, alternative minimum tax, phase-outs on higher incomes, or every credit and deduction that could apply to your specific situation. Treat the result as a starting point for planning — adjusting your paycheck withholding, deciding whether to itemize, or getting a sense of whether you're on track for a refund or a bill — not as a number to plan a purchase around. For anything consequential, confirm your actual figures with the IRS's own resources or a qualified tax professional, and always use the tax year's actual published brackets, deduction amounts, and credit rules rather than assuming last year's numbers still apply.
Curious about accuracy, privacy, or how the standard and itemized deductions compare? See the full FAQ page for detailed answers.