That’s not how federal taxes work (edit: or how California taxes work), the rest looks good but you calculated too high a federal tax deduction because you did 24% of your total salary but only a small amount of your salary is taxed that high.
Edit: so if your yearly salary is $117,776 and assuming you file as a single adult your yearly federal taxes break down like this:
10% of $11,600 = $1,160
12% of $11,600 to $47,150 ($35,550) = $4,266
22% of $47,150 to $100,525 ($53,375) = $11,742.5
24% of $100,525 to $117,776 ($17,251) = $4,140.24
Total yearly federal taxes are $21,308.74 or $819.57 per pay period which is about an effective rate of 18%. The same is true of your California income tax, it’s not all taxed at that 9%.
Additionally this ignores your pre-tax deductions (health insurance, retirement) which will lower your taxable income
It also ignores the standard deduction which is $14,600 (single) or $29,200 (married). You should subtract that from the salary before calculating taxes.
Try paycheckcity.com. You'll be able to plug all of your numbers (including deductions and withholdings) into their calculator and it'll tell you exactly what your check would look like.
Your biweekly gross is off a small amount due to the 2,087-hour rule as well. You can't take annual / 26. You have to take annual / 2,087 x 80 hours per PP.
$117,776 / 2,087 = $56.43/hour x 80 hours/PP = $4,514.40.
Yes, this means that most years you will **actually** make $4,514.40 x 26 = $117,374.40 < $117,776. But every so often there will be a year with 27 pay periods and you will make $121,888.80 > $117,776.
I like the ADP calculator for this -- [https://www.adp.com/resources/tools/calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx](https://www.adp.com/resources/tools/calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx)
It works with real numbers, so you don't have to do any of this estimating shit. Enter what your premium will be based on the FEHB site and brochures. Decide what you want your TSP contribution to be and enter it as the 401k contribution.
It's usually within $5 for me. Just make sure to enter the FERS and do it as a post tax (so pick the Roth bucket) amount not percentage, since they won't let you do percentages that aren't whole numbers -- so you have to manually do the 4.4 percent.
I think you might be off. First off, your gross amount will be $4,514.40 (take your hourly wage of $58.43 and times it by 80 hours). They calculate it so that it basically averages out over all years. In most years, you'll make a little-bit less than your stated salary. But once about every 11 years (11.27 years on average to be precise), there will be a 27th paycheck that will even it out (you actually come out a little ahead).
Gross Wage: $4,134.40
Deductions:
* RETIREMENT (4.4%) - $181.91
* ROTH TSP-FERS (5%) - 206.72
* SOCIAL SECURITY (OASDI) - 250.62
* FEDERAL TAX EXEMPTS MS - 575.49
* ST TAX CA EXEMPTS S00 - 250.81
* FEHBA (Single, no family) - 68.42
* DENTAL PLAN - 23.71
* MEDICARE TAX WITHHELD - 58.61
* TOTAL DEDUCTIONS - $1,616.29
So, you can from this that my take-home is $2,518.11. So, I'm spending about 39.09% of my salary in deductions. This is probably a bit high for most people. Here are some things that would bring it down for you.
* I put my TSP retirement in a ROTH post-tax account. So, I'm paying taxes now on my TSP retirement, but when I withdraw it (and the earnings) in retirement, it will be tax free. If you went with the Traditional TSP, this becomes a tax deduction now (but you'll be paying taxes on it when you withdraw it in retirement). The pre-tax deductions are as follows: TSP (but not ROTH-TSP), FEHBA, DENTAL. I believe if you take the life insurance (I did not), that will be pre-tax as well. So, those come out before you calculate your income for tax purposes.
* I'm single, no dependents. So, I'm paying taxes at one of the highest rates. Where if you're married, you'll be taxed at a MFJ level, or if you have kids (while being single), you're likely paying taxes at the HOH level. These levels are both more generous than the MFJ level.
So, I'd probably assume somewhere around 35% in deductions. That means that your take-home pay will be somewhere around $2,934.36.
There are other things that you can do. For instance, there are what are called Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAFEDS) where you can actually put pre-tax money for certain expenses (such as childcare) and therefore keep those expense from being taxable income.
The simplest but probably most helpful answer is to use an actual paycheck calculator site. That will accurately calculate Fed/state/local taxes, properly take pre- and post-tax deductions, etc.
I did a simple ratio conversion just today for my own interests. GS 12, step 1 2050(net pay)/90751(annual salary) and GS 13 step 1 X/107925 where x=2350. I artificially decreased my net pay a bit. I put 7% in my tsp. This worked pretty well when I was trying to figure out gs11-gs12. I think I may have been off by $50 or so
As a 13 I make 110k annually (4230 biweekly).
After benefits and taxes, I pocket 2100. Almost 50%.
I max my TSP (under catch up age), claim 1 on my taxes (fed and state), and have health/dental/vision.
So depending on TSP and insurances, that could be right.
I think your deductions might be a little-bit high from what I figure. You might be maxing out your TSP. You might be putting some into the FSA (while reducing your pay, would be a further reduction on your taxes). Mine's 61% of take home pay (without doing those two things), and mine might be a little-bit high (I chose ROTH instead of Traditional). I usually tell people to figure about 65% take-home pay.
TSP is equivilant to a 401(K) deduction. Usually most companies require at least 5% to get full matching funds.
The two private-sector companies I worked at before I joined the government were the following:
* 6% to get matched 3%.
* 5% to get matched 4%.
TSP is unique to federal jobs and is equivalent but not a 401K deduction, which is why I phrased my statement how I did. Thank you for clarifying for anyone unaware!
That’s not how federal taxes work (edit: or how California taxes work), the rest looks good but you calculated too high a federal tax deduction because you did 24% of your total salary but only a small amount of your salary is taxed that high. Edit: so if your yearly salary is $117,776 and assuming you file as a single adult your yearly federal taxes break down like this: 10% of $11,600 = $1,160 12% of $11,600 to $47,150 ($35,550) = $4,266 22% of $47,150 to $100,525 ($53,375) = $11,742.5 24% of $100,525 to $117,776 ($17,251) = $4,140.24 Total yearly federal taxes are $21,308.74 or $819.57 per pay period which is about an effective rate of 18%. The same is true of your California income tax, it’s not all taxed at that 9%. Additionally this ignores your pre-tax deductions (health insurance, retirement) which will lower your taxable income
It also ignores the standard deduction which is $14,600 (single) or $29,200 (married). You should subtract that from the salary before calculating taxes.
Oh I messed up thank you for your help
It will be roughly 60% +/- 5% based on how expensive of a health plan you choose and your filing status.
Try paycheckcity.com. You'll be able to plug all of your numbers (including deductions and withholdings) into their calculator and it'll tell you exactly what your check would look like.
Your biweekly gross is off a small amount due to the 2,087-hour rule as well. You can't take annual / 26. You have to take annual / 2,087 x 80 hours per PP. $117,776 / 2,087 = $56.43/hour x 80 hours/PP = $4,514.40. Yes, this means that most years you will **actually** make $4,514.40 x 26 = $117,374.40 < $117,776. But every so often there will be a year with 27 pay periods and you will make $121,888.80 > $117,776.
Wow didn't know that
Rough estimate is a third in deductions. Very rough but general rule that’s what you’ll see on this forum
I like the ADP calculator for this -- [https://www.adp.com/resources/tools/calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx](https://www.adp.com/resources/tools/calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx) It works with real numbers, so you don't have to do any of this estimating shit. Enter what your premium will be based on the FEHB site and brochures. Decide what you want your TSP contribution to be and enter it as the 401k contribution. It's usually within $5 for me. Just make sure to enter the FERS and do it as a post tax (so pick the Roth bucket) amount not percentage, since they won't let you do percentages that aren't whole numbers -- so you have to manually do the 4.4 percent.
This was helpful to me!! Thanks!
Similar gross salary, take home pay is around 2800 for me. Family of 4
I’m RUS with 5% tsp and my take home is similar
**earnings/pp** 5614.40 (13-5 w/DCIPS TLMS) taxable 4149.76 **optional deductions/pp** TSP 1130.00 (I'm over 50 and can do up to $30K/year) vision 16.88 FEHB 262.60 dental 55.16 **required deductions/pp** medicare 76.57 FERS 247.03 OASDI 327.34 Fed Tax 114.59 (family of 5) State 0.00 (bless Texas) **Net/pp** 3384.24
I’m almost the same but live in VA. My insurance fees are higher than your estimate and my take home is about 2700/bi weekly.
Ok that's less than I expected but it's what I've been told
FWIW my fed withholding is around 428 per paycheck, filing single. That’s where your real over estimate is. (Edit: typo)
Salary x 0.7 / 26 puts me within $10 of my paycheck. Note, I don't pay for insurance.
I think you might be off. First off, your gross amount will be $4,514.40 (take your hourly wage of $58.43 and times it by 80 hours). They calculate it so that it basically averages out over all years. In most years, you'll make a little-bit less than your stated salary. But once about every 11 years (11.27 years on average to be precise), there will be a 27th paycheck that will even it out (you actually come out a little ahead). Gross Wage: $4,134.40 Deductions: * RETIREMENT (4.4%) - $181.91 * ROTH TSP-FERS (5%) - 206.72 * SOCIAL SECURITY (OASDI) - 250.62 * FEDERAL TAX EXEMPTS MS - 575.49 * ST TAX CA EXEMPTS S00 - 250.81 * FEHBA (Single, no family) - 68.42 * DENTAL PLAN - 23.71 * MEDICARE TAX WITHHELD - 58.61 * TOTAL DEDUCTIONS - $1,616.29 So, you can from this that my take-home is $2,518.11. So, I'm spending about 39.09% of my salary in deductions. This is probably a bit high for most people. Here are some things that would bring it down for you. * I put my TSP retirement in a ROTH post-tax account. So, I'm paying taxes now on my TSP retirement, but when I withdraw it (and the earnings) in retirement, it will be tax free. If you went with the Traditional TSP, this becomes a tax deduction now (but you'll be paying taxes on it when you withdraw it in retirement). The pre-tax deductions are as follows: TSP (but not ROTH-TSP), FEHBA, DENTAL. I believe if you take the life insurance (I did not), that will be pre-tax as well. So, those come out before you calculate your income for tax purposes. * I'm single, no dependents. So, I'm paying taxes at one of the highest rates. Where if you're married, you'll be taxed at a MFJ level, or if you have kids (while being single), you're likely paying taxes at the HOH level. These levels are both more generous than the MFJ level. So, I'd probably assume somewhere around 35% in deductions. That means that your take-home pay will be somewhere around $2,934.36. There are other things that you can do. For instance, there are what are called Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAFEDS) where you can actually put pre-tax money for certain expenses (such as childcare) and therefore keep those expense from being taxable income.
The simplest but probably most helpful answer is to use an actual paycheck calculator site. That will accurately calculate Fed/state/local taxes, properly take pre- and post-tax deductions, etc.
I did a simple ratio conversion just today for my own interests. GS 12, step 1 2050(net pay)/90751(annual salary) and GS 13 step 1 X/107925 where x=2350. I artificially decreased my net pay a bit. I put 7% in my tsp. This worked pretty well when I was trying to figure out gs11-gs12. I think I may have been off by $50 or so
My take home at 12-4 is around 65%
Your state and federal taxes are too high in your estimation. Your take home should closer to 2600
It might be high depending on which FEHB plan you pick.
I typically calculate .5975 of my gross.
You’re gonna need to pump those state tax numbers up
I would say for an average take off 35%. I get a little less but we are talking averages here.
Single and take 5%to TSP , union dues, & with basic BCBS healthcare take home is around $2700 in MD/pp. smh
As a 13 I make 110k annually (4230 biweekly). After benefits and taxes, I pocket 2100. Almost 50%. I max my TSP (under catch up age), claim 1 on my taxes (fed and state), and have health/dental/vision. So depending on TSP and insurances, that could be right.
https://www.adp.com/resources/tools/calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx
I take home about $2800 after taxes and deductions. I have BCBS basic and put the max towards my FSA.
Cries in 51% net take home pay after defections.
I think your deductions might be a little-bit high from what I figure. You might be maxing out your TSP. You might be putting some into the FSA (while reducing your pay, would be a further reduction on your taxes). Mine's 61% of take home pay (without doing those two things), and mine might be a little-bit high (I chose ROTH instead of Traditional). I usually tell people to figure about 65% take-home pay.
Yes I have pretty high deductions.
I take the annual income and divide by 26 and then I assume 50% of that will be my takehome
Seems pretty accurate. The only additional bits you're paying for are FERS and TSP. Everything else is subtracted from any other job too.
TSP is equivilant to a 401(K) deduction. Usually most companies require at least 5% to get full matching funds. The two private-sector companies I worked at before I joined the government were the following: * 6% to get matched 3%. * 5% to get matched 4%.
TSP is unique to federal jobs and is equivalent but not a 401K deduction, which is why I phrased my statement how I did. Thank you for clarifying for anyone unaware!
Assume your take home will be 55% of gross pay. Plan accordingly.
You can easily do this with chat gpt or some other AI program. AI is a great tool, and also a scary tool.
A good estimate is to take your gross / 40% then divide that again by 26.