2026 tax return calculator: your federal and state refund or amount owed

Working or retired: enter your 2026 wages or business profit, your children and other dependents, Social Security, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, pension, Roth conversions, interest, dividends and gains, and what was withheld. The open federal and state tax engine figures your 2026 tax and shows whether you get a refund or owe, federal and state.

An estimate from QuantCalc's open tax engine for the 2026 tax year, not a tax return and not tax advice. Nothing is filed.

Only wages and children? The tax refund calculator 2026 is a shorter form for that: wages, the child tax credit, the earned income credit and the overtime and tips deductions; this one also takes a business profit (Schedule C) and retirement income. Filing a late or amended 2025 return? The 2025 tax return calculator works out the 2025 refund or balance and the late-filing penalties.

Below: an example household, computed live. To see the same return line by line — every Form 1040 line and schedule and the state detail — use the 2026 Return Preview, part of the Tax Season Pass (what the pass includes is listed under the result).

Your 2026 numbers

Filing status, your age and your state are needed; everything else is optional. Amounts are for the whole of 2026. Leave a box empty for none.

In 2026, are you mostly working or retired? Working: wages or a business of your own Retired: Social Security, IRA withdrawals, a pension

It puts the boxes you are likely to need first; every box stays on the form.

HouseholdFiling status, ages and state.

Filing status

Your age on Dec 31, 2026

Your birth month (the 65 and 59½ tests)

Spouse's age on Dec 31, 2026

Spouse's birth month

State

Marketplace (ACA) health coverage in 2026

DependentsChildren and anyone else you claim: the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents, the earned income credit and your state's own rules for dependents.

One row per dependent. A child under 17 at the end of 2026 gets the child tax credit; every other dependent the credit for other dependents; one under 19, a full-time student under 24 or a permanently and totally disabled one counts as a qualifying child for the earned income credit. The tests each person must meet (relationship, residency, support, Social Security number) are taken as met.

2026 incomeTaxable amounts, as on your 1099-R, SSA-1099, W-2, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV and Schedule C.

Social Security benefits (both of you, before Medicare premiums)

IRA / 401(k) withdrawals, taxable amount (not Roth conversions or QCDs)

Roth conversions

Pension or annuity, taxable amount

Government pension

Wages

Spouse's wages

Business profit, Schedule C (self-employment, after expenses — car and mileage included)

Spouse's business profit, Schedule C

Qualified overtime pay in those wages (the premium half of time-and-a-half)

Qualified tips in those wages

Whose IRA money, pension and conversions (state tax)

… spouse's IRA / 401(k) withdrawals

… spouse's pension

… spouse's Roth conversions

Married filing jointly: several states tax a couple by each spouse’s own income (Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia, and every retirement exclusion capped per spouse), so the state tax depends on whose income it is. Evenly is the default. Federal tax does not depend on it.

Taxable interest

Tax-exempt interest

Ordinary dividends (all)

… of which qualified

Capital-gain distributions

Short-term gains (− for a loss)

Long-term gains (− for a loss)

Short-term loss carried over from 2025

Long-term loss carried over from 2025

Other ordinary income

DeductionsOnly if you might itemize, or for gifts to charity: the engine keeps whichever gives the lower tax.

State and local income tax paid

Property tax

Mortgage interest

Medical and dental expenses

Cash gifts to charity

PaymentsWhat decides the refund or the amount owed.

Federal tax withheld in 2026 (W-2, 1099-R, SSA-1099)

Federal estimated payment, April 15

… June 15

… September 15

… January 15, 2027

Your 2025 total tax (for the underpayment penalty)

Your 2025 AGI

State tax withheld in 2026

State estimated payments for 2026

Remember my numbers on this device

Paid tool That is your refund or amount owed. Next, every line of it. The Tax Season Pass gives you three things through the end of the tax season, April 30: the 2026 Return Preview (every Form 1040 line and schedule the engine fills, your state return and a printable copy checked against the server engine), Year-end Tax Moves (all seven 2026 moves, alone and combined, with a dated action list and a PDF plan) and the full QuantCalc planner. Personal PRO includes the same: the planner for good, the Return Preview and Year-end Tax Moves for this tax season. Unlock with the Tax Season Pass — $39 this season What the pass includes, and what is free first →

How do I estimate my 2026 tax refund?

Add up what was withheld from your paychecks, pension, IRA withdrawals and Social Security in 2026, plus any estimated payments, and subtract your 2026 total tax (Form 1040 line 24). If the payments are larger, the difference is your refund; if not, it is what you owe. This calculator figures the total tax from your income with QuantCalc's open federal and state tax engine and does that subtraction for you.

Is Social Security taxable in 2026?

Part of it can be. Up to 85% of benefits become taxable as your other income rises; with little other income, none is. The 2026 law did not end the tax on benefits: it added a separate deduction for people 65 and older. This calculator applies both and shows the taxable part on Form 1040 line 6b in the line-by-line preview.

Do retirees get an extra deduction in 2026?

Yes. For 2025 through 2028 each person 65 or older can take an additional deduction (on Schedule 1-A), reduced at higher incomes. It comes on top of the extra standard deduction for age 65 when you take the standard deduction, and it applies when you itemize too. The calculator takes it from your ages and your income.

Are IRA withdrawals and Roth conversions taxed in 2026?

The taxable part of a traditional IRA or 401(k) withdrawal and a Roth conversion are ordinary income on Form 1040 line 4b. Before age 59½ a withdrawal can also owe a 10% additional tax; this calculator applies it with no exceptions, so check whether one applies to you. Your state may exclude part or all of retirement income.

Why can I owe even though tax was withheld?

Withholding on Social Security and IRA withdrawals is often set low or not at all, and capital gains, dividends and Roth conversions usually have none. If the total tax is more than what was withheld and paid in estimates, the difference is due, and an underpayment penalty can apply. Enter your 2025 total tax and the calculator figures the penalty too.

Is this a tax return?

No. It is an estimate from the numbers you type, not a filing, and it is not tax advice. It leaves out several things, listed on the page: most credits, the premium tax credit for marketplace coverage, farm, rental and partnership income, and most local income taxes among them.

For one decision in depth: the Social Security tax calculator, the 401(k) withdrawal tax calculator, the 2026 estimated tax calculator and Year-end Tax Moves. For filing: when your 2026 refund arrives, whether you need to file, your 1099-R and your SSA-1099.

How typical retirees come out: five retiree households’ 2026 federal and state returns in every state, with the data.

What this is, and what it leaves out

An estimate of your 2026 federal and state income tax from the numbers you enter, figured by QuantCalc's open tax engine. It is not a tax return: nothing is filed, and it is not tax advice. Use it to see roughly where you will land before you file, then file with tax software or a preparer.

Assumptions

Not modelled

What the state engine does not model

Everything the federal engine leaves out is listed on the federal engine page; every state's list is on the state engine page. Your numbers are figured in this browser tab and are not sent to QuantCalc; the paid printable copy sends them once to QuantCalc's tax engine to confirm every line. Sources for every federal rule: federal calculation order.