Every rule, cap, and phaseout the calculator applies for tax year 2026 — and the IRS sources behind each one — so you can verify the math before relying on it.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025) created two new federal income-tax deductions for tax years 2025 through 2028: one for qualified tips and one for qualified overtime pay. They are deductions, not exemptions — they reduce the income on which federal income tax is figured, and they are available whether you take the standard deduction or itemize. They do not reduce Social Security or Medicare (FICA) taxes, and most states do not conform.
Both deductions shrink once modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) crosses a threshold:
The reduction is subtracted from each cap (not below zero). So the tips deduction is gone once MAGI is $250,000 above the threshold, and the overtime deduction phases out faster because its cap is smaller. The calculator uses your total annual income as a practical stand-in for MAGI.
A deduction saves you your marginal tax rate on each deducted dollar — not the full amount. The calculator computes your 2026 federal income tax twice and takes the difference:
where std is the 2026 standard deduction for your filing status, and tax() applies the 2026 bracket schedule progressively.
From IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Standard deduction: $16,100 (single), $32,200 (married filing jointly), $24,150 (head of household), $16,100 (married filing separately). Brackets — 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37% — with the single-filer thresholds shown below:
| Rate | Single — taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,401 – $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,401 – $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,701 – $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,776 – $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,226 – $640,600 |
| 37% | $640,601 + |
Single bartender, $45,000 total income, $18,000 qualified tips, no overtime. Taxable income before the deduction is $45,000 − $16,100 = $28,900, taxed at about $3,220. After deducting $18,000 of tips, taxable income is $10,900, taxed at about $1,090. The saving is roughly $2,130 — the $18,000 deduction removed income taxed at 10–12%.
Public dataset: estimated first-year federal tax savings from "no tax on tips" across seven common tipped occupations (single filer, standard deduction).
↓ Download CSV — wages are BLS May 2024 OEWS medians; tip shares are clearly-labeled modeling assumptions. Free to cite with attribution to FriendlyCalc.