Payroll Tax Calculator

What is an Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

You can quickly estimate and summarize payroll tax withholdings and deductions to compare gross pay and net pay with this free payroll tax calculator.

The calculator does not cover employer-paid payroll taxes such as FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act), SUI (State Unemployment Insurance), or the employer portion of FICA (Social Security and Medicare).  

Many business owners consult with an accountant, bookkeeper or tax professional on how to set up their payroll process. Some people choose payroll software to help them manage their small business payroll and payroll tax. 

The bottom line: Whether you plan to run payroll yourself, hire a financial expert or use a payroll service, you may need help understanding what federal, state and local laws apply.  

A simple oversight or tax filing error can trigger an audit, costly penalties, and cause you considerable time and trouble.

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How Do You Calculate Take-Home Pay?  

A paycheck calculator allows you to quickly calculate estimated take-home pay.  

Generally, you can calculate your take-home—or net pay—in these steps:  

• determine your taxable income by deducting pre-tax contributions, such as retirement plan contributions, from your gross pay

• subtract all applicable local, state, and federal taxes

• deduct post-tax contributions for items like healthcare  

• minus any additional withholdings, such as wage garnishments

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How Much Tax is Taken Out of a Paycheck?  

Calculating how much tax is taken out of a paycheck differs for everyone.  

Several factors affect paycheck tax deductions. This includes a person’s earnings, their federal filing status, and state income tax rate. The number of allowances they claim is also important.  

You can use our free salary and hourly take home calculators to estimate how much tax is taken out of a paycheck.

Or to determine an estimated percentage of taxes deducted from your check:  

• Review current income tax brackets to calculate federal income tax.  

• Calculate Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes.  

• Determine if state income and local income tax apply.

• Divide the sum of all taxes by your gross pay.  

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How Do You Calculate Annual Income?  

Generally, to find the annual salary, multiply the gross pay from one paycheck by the number of pay periods in a year. Gross pay is the amount before taxes.

For example, if you earn $2,000 every other week before taxes your calculation would be:
$2,000 every two weeks x 26 pay periods for a total salary of $52,000.  

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Simplify Payroll and Tax Calculations

Processing payroll doesn’t have to be complex and time-consuming. Let SurePayroll® By Paychex simplify it.  

• Automatic wage and tax calculations, including tax payment and filing of federal and state taxes with our most popular plan.  

• Access to help whenever and wherever you need it.  

• Run payroll in minutes from anywhere, on any device.  

• Save more time when you schedule payroll with auto payroll.  

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With SurePayroll you can run payroll in minutes from anywhere in three simple steps: enter hours, review payroll, and approve.