How much federal tax should be withheld from my paycheck?

The federal tax withheld from your paycheck should be enough to cover the tax you will owe for the year, and not much more. The IRS percentage method sets the amount from your pay and your Form W-4. A single filer earning $60,000, paid every two weeks with nothing else on the W-4, has $193.08 withheld per paycheck in 2026.

Small W-4 changes move that number. The same $60,000 filed as married filing jointly drops withholding to $109.23. One child under 17 in Step 3 brings the single filer down to $108.46. Checking the Step 2 box for two jobs raises it to $337.88.

If you got a large refund or owed money last year, update your Form W-4. The W-4 guide covers each step, and the salary paycheck calculator shows the result per check. The math follows IRS Publication 15-T, written out on the methodology page.

Federal income tax takes about 8% of a typical single filer's paycheck, not a fixed percentage. A single filer earning $60,000 paid every two weeks has $193.08 withheld from $2,307.69 of gross pay, which works out to 8.4% of the check.

The same $60,000 filed as married filing jointly withholds $109.23 per check, or 4.7%. Checking the Step 2 box for two jobs raises it to $337.88 per check, or 14.6%, on the same pay. Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) come out on top of that, so the total federal bite on the check is larger than the income tax share alone.