Tax year 2026 · US federal
Does getting married change your tax bill?
Enter what the two of you earn. This marriage tax penalty calculator compares one joint return against what the two of you would pay unmarried, and shows the difference — a penalty if marrying costs you, a bonus if it saves you. Federal brackets, the EITC and the Child Tax Credit for tax year 2026, with the method and its limits written out in full.
Your two incomes
Gross wages before deductions. We apply the 2026 standard deduction for you.
$2,850
Filing jointly saves you $2,850 a year.
- Filing jointlyOne married return
- $11,240
- Filing as two singles$12,070 + $2,020
- $14,090
- Bonus
- $2,850
What every other earner split would mean for you
Show these numbers as a table
What is driving your number
Four things can move a couple's tax bill at marriage. Here is which ones apply to you.
Turn on JavaScript to see which of these apply to your own figures.
Why the answer is so often “no difference”
For tax year 2026, every income threshold for a married couple filing jointly is exactly twice the threshold for a single filer — with one exception. The top 37% rate begins at $768,700 of joint taxable income, where two single filers would not reach it until $1,281,200 between them. The standard deduction is doubled too ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint).
So for a couple who earn roughly the same, and who claim the standard deduction, the brackets have nothing to give or take: the joint return and the two single returns land on the same number. That is not a bug in the calculator, it is the design of the tables — and it is why this page shows you the whole curve rather than a single figure.
The difference shows up when the two incomes are uneven. The lower earner's income fills the doubled lower brackets, pulling income out of the higher earner's top band, and the result is a marriage bonus. It also shows up for two high earners, where the un-doubled top threshold bites.
Where the real penalties are: the credits
The brackets are the part everyone talks about, and they are the part that mostly cancels out. The Earned Income Tax Credit is where a serious marriage penalty actually comes from, because its phase-out threshold is not doubled. For a family with children it begins at $23,890 of income for a single or head-of-household filer and only $31,160 for a married couple — about $7,270 higher, not double.
So two people earning $25,000 each with two children between them can each be collecting most of the credit apart, and lose most of it by marrying. Try “$25k each, 2 children” above: the brackets contribute nothing, and the answer is still a penalty of several thousand dollars a year. That single mechanism is most of the gap between a bracket-only calculator and the Tax Policy Center's finding that 43% of couples face a penalty.
It cuts the other way too. A couple where one parent earns everything usually sees a bonus, because the joint return's higher phase-out threshold lets them keep a credit that was already phasing out on one income.
Two smaller things follow from having children, and both are modelled here. Unmarried parents sharing a home cannot both file as head of household, so one claims the children and the wider head-of-household brackets while the other files single — this page works out which arrangement is better for you and compares against that, not against a worse one. And the Child Tax Credit's phase-out thresholds are exactly doubled ($200,000 single, $400,000 joint), so they cannot create a penalty — but its refundable cap can, because a parent on one income may not have enough tax to absorb the whole credit.
Everything above is federal only. For what this calculator deliberately does not model — state income tax especially — and the assumptions behind the credits, see about this calculator.
| Rate | Single, up to | Married jointly, up to | Doubled? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $12,400 | $24,800 | Exactly 2× |
| 12% | $50,400 | $100,800 | Exactly 2× |
| 22% | $105,700 | $211,400 | Exactly 2× |
| 24% | $201,775 | $403,550 | Exactly 2× |
| 32% | $256,225 | $512,450 | Exactly 2× |
| 35% | $640,600 | $768,700 | No — this is the penalty |
| 37% | and above | and above | Exactly 2× |
Common questions
Is there a marriage tax penalty in 2026?
For some couples, yes, but far fewer than people expect. Every federal income tax bracket for a married couple is exactly double the single-filer bracket except the top 37% rate, so the brackets alone leave most couples paying the same either way. The real penalties come from the Earned Income Tax Credit, whose phase-out threshold is not doubled, and from two very high earners meeting that top rate.
Why does this calculator say my tax does not change?
Because for a couple who earn roughly the same and claim the standard deduction, it genuinely does not. The joint brackets are twice the single ones and the joint standard deduction is twice the single one, so there is nothing for the joint return to gain or lose. That is the design of the tables rather than a limitation of the calculator. Move the earner-split slider or add children and you will see where it stops being true.
Who actually pays a marriage penalty?
Two groups. Lower-income couples who both work and have children, because the EITC phase-out threshold for a married couple is only about $7,270 higher than for a single filer rather than double it, so marrying can cost thousands of dollars of credit. And two high earners, because the 37% rate starts at $768,700 of joint taxable income where two single filers would not reach it until $1,281,200 between them.
Can getting married lower my taxes?
Often, yes, and this is the more common outcome. When one partner earns much more than the other, the lower earner's income fills up the doubled lower brackets and pulls income out of the higher earner's top band. A single-earner household almost always sees a marriage bonus.
Does getting married affect the Earned Income Tax Credit?
Yes, and it is the single largest source of marriage penalties. The credit starts phasing out at $23,890 of income for a single or head-of-household filer and at $31,160 for a married couple. Because that threshold is not doubled, two people who each qualified separately can lose most of the credit by marrying. This calculator models it directly.
Should we update our W-4 after getting married?
Usually yes. Marrying changes which withholding tables your employer uses, and if you both work the default withholding often assumes each job is the household's only income. Use the difference this calculator shows as a rough guide to whether you are heading for a bill or a refund, then submit a new Form W-4 to each employer.