About WageSimply

WageSimply works out what US workers take home and what freelancers owe in tax. It is an independent website. We are not the IRS or any other government agency, and we aren’t connected to one.

Who runs WageSimply

Engr. Zakir Ullah

Engr. Zakir Ullah

Founder, engineer and Google-certified data analyst

LinkedIn profile

Engr. Zakir Ullah founded WageSimply in 2026 and leads the team that builds and checks it. An engineer and Google-certified data analyst, Zakir treats a tax calculator like any system people depend on: start from the official specification, test it against known answers, and recheck it when the specification changes.

You can check the data analytics certificates yourself. Coursera verifies both:

Zakir also runs PolymersIQ, a consultancy for polyurethane foam manufacturers that publishes its own free engineering calculators.

These are engineering and data qualifications, not tax licenses. We are not a tax firm or an accounting practice. We don’t prepare returns, and nothing here is advice about your own taxes. For that, you need a tax professional who can see your whole situation.

Where the numbers come from

Federal figures for 2026 come from the IRS. State figures come from each state’s revenue agency, usually its published withholding formula. Every calculator lists the sources it uses at the bottom of the page, so you can check any number against the original.

The W-4, W-9 and 1099-NEC tools fill in the IRS’s own PDF files. The forms are official; the site that fills them in isn’t. They work inside your browser, so we never see what you type.

How we check them

How the paycheck calculators work

  1. Your yearly gross pay is worked out from your salary, or from hourly wage × hours × 52 weeks.
  2. Pre-tax deductions and the 2026 standard deduction are subtracted, then the 2026 federal tax brackets for your filing status are applied.
  3. Social Security (6.2% up to the $184,500 wage base) and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on high earnings) are taken from gross pay.
  4. State income tax and state payroll programs, such as paid leave, follow the rules for your state, shown on each state’s page.
  5. The yearly result is divided by the number of paychecks in a year, and each line is rounded to the cent.

What the results leave out

Our results are estimates. The paycheck calculators don’t include most city and county taxes, tax credits or income from other sources, and your employer’s withholding also depends on your W-4, so your real paycheck can differ. Each page says what it covers.

What’s on the site

How the site pays for itself

WageSimply is free and needs no account, and it has no ads today. We may add advertising or affiliate links later to cover its costs. If we do, they will be labeled, they won’t change any result, and we’ll update the privacy policy first.

Found a mistake?

Tax rules change and we can get things wrong. If a number looks off, email hello@wagesimply.com with the page and the figure. We’ll check it against the source and correct the page if it’s wrong.

Results are for information only. Check important decisions with the IRS, your state tax agency or a qualified tax professional. See the terms of use.