Free Paycheck Calculator: Hourly & Salary [USA] 2024 (2024)

(Tax Year 2024: Last Updated on July 25, 2024)

OurUS paycheck calculator is the handiest tool to help you calculate your net pay after taxes and other deductions that must be taken out of your gross salary. This can be a helpful tool if you're trying to budget your money or if you're trying to figure out how much money you'll have after taxes.

US Paycheck Calculator User Guide

Calculating the net pay of numerous employees on payday is quite a hectic job. You need to go through different calculations to deduce the result, yet you still fear any error that could affect your company's financial assets.

Moreover, an "accurate" paycheck calculation is also necessary from the employee's point of view, especially when starting a new job or get a raise as it is not as simple as determining income by multiplying your hourly rate by the number of hours worked.

In fact, you have to go through several deductions, withholdings, and calculations to deduce your take-home amount. Thus, a simple miscalculation will cause the wrong determination of Salary and Personal Budget.

So to prevent such blunders, employers are suggested to use an accurate and precise tool that could minimize their paycheck calculation process and save precious time & money.

Now the question is; what tool should you use?

If you are running a start-up or small company and can't afford the expensive payroll processing software, then you are recommended to use our FREE Paycheck Calculator. Our team of experts creates this tool after days of hard work, research, and dedication. It can calculate your paycheck easily by minimizing the chance of human error and saving a lot of time.

Why use our Paycheck Calculator?

The reason why you should use paycheck Calculator is its easy user-interface, accuracy, and no-cost. For fantastic user experience and accuracy, our tool is divided into four sections, as stated below:

Section 1 - Income Information;

Here you need to enter your salary information such as:

1. Pay type:

Pay on our Paycheck Calculator is categorized into two types, that you can choose from the dropdown menu:

• Hourly; If the employee is paid on an Hourly Basis, then choose Hourly
• Salary; If the employee is hired on a salary basis, then choose Salary

2. Pay Frequency:

It is the duration of how often the employee is paid for his/her work. Our Calculator offers the following Pay frequencies:

• Weekly: Employees are paid every weak on a specific payday.
• Bi-Weekly: Employees are paid after every two weeks on the specified payday.
• Semi-Monthly: Employees are paid on the specified payday, twice every month – mostly on the fifteenth and thirtieth of every month.
• Monthly: Employees are paid once a month on a specified payday – usually at the start or the end of the month.
• Quarterly: Employees are paid only four times a year, though this practice is very uncommon.
• Annually: Employees are paid once a year. However, this practice also very rare.

3. Hourly Rate:

It is an option to enter the hourly rate for employees who are paid on an hourly basis.

4. Hours (Straight Time):

It is an option to enter Regular Hours of the hourly employee.

5. Overtime - Hours (Time & 1/2):

According to FLSA Law, every employee (unless or otherwise exempted) who works for more than the regular hours must be paid overtime bonuses. The laws bound the employer to pay its non-exempted employee (usually hourly), at least one and half times the employee's regular hourly rate for each hour worked over 40 hours a week. Wherefore, to calculate paycheck for your hourly employee, our Paycheck Calculator gives you an option to enter overtime hours in Hours (Time & 1/2) field.

6. Double Time:

Hourly Employees are paid twice the regular hourly rate for work over 40 hours a week on some particular circ*mstances such as work on holidays and Sundays. Though FSLA doesn't require such practice by the employer but some state labor laws do. Additionally, some employers also pay it to encourage their employees. So, if you have a Double Time Policy, you can easily use the option to enter the double-time hours under the Hourly Pay section.

7. Bonus / Commission / Tips:

Some companies have the policy to award their best performing employees with bonuses, commissions, or tips when they accomplish certain criteria or goals. Therefore, if your company has the same policy, then our Paycheck Calculator also gives you an option to enter such a bonus amount.

Section 2 – Federal Withholding;

Federal Withholding is an amount that an employer withholds from the paycheck of its employee to remit to the federal authorities directly. This Withholding Tax is adjusted in the Yearly Income Tax, which an employee has to pay.

This amount is deducted to ensure that all the residents of the United States are paying their income tax regularly. It also helps the employee to pay his/her income tax partially instead of lump amount every year. This amount is used by the government to improve the living standard of the residents and state development.

Our Paycheck Calculator gives you an option to choose:

1. Marital Status:

The amount of Federal Withholding Tax and many of the States' Withholding Tax that the employer withholds from its employee is determined by several factors including:

• Marital status; single or married and whether his/her spouse is earning or not.
• Number of Jobs an employee has and his/her total earning.
• A number of dependents on the employee.
• Head of Household.

Each employee needs to fill out Form W-4 with all the exact and necessary details, including the factors mentioned above. The employer later submits this form to federal authorities.

Our Paycheck Calculator gives an option to choose your marital status for accurate determination of withholding tax.

2. Withholding Allowances:

As all employees have different factors in life required for withholding tax determination. Therefore, they have an option to claim an allowance and get exempted from paying a certain amount of income tax.

The amount of withholding tax that an employer withholds is inversely proportional to the number of allowances claimed. In simple words, the more allowances you claim, the less the amount of withholding tax would be charged. However, you have to maintain a balance between the number of allowances and tax amount, as you may end up overpaying or underpaying taxes.

If you have overpaid, you may get a tax refund, but if you are underpaid, then you would definitely be charged with a penalty by IRS.

Note: Personal Exemptions and Allowances are no longer supported in Form W4 2020.

Now the question is, how many allowances should you claim?

To determine the number of allowances you should claim for maximum advantage and minimum risk for the penalty, you can consider the following points:

1. You can refer to the Personal Allowance Worked Sheet provided by the IRS.
2. If you are dependent on someone, like your parents, you are suggested to claim zero or one allowance.
3. If you are unmarried, having only one job and no dependents, then you should claim one or two allowances.
4. If you have multiple jobs, then you should claim one allowance for each of your jobs. However, if any 1 of your job isn't eligible for the allowance, then you can claim zero for this job, and request two allowances for the eligible one. Nevertheless, keeping the number of allowances claimed equal to the number of jobs.
5. If you are married, having a working spouse with no dependent, then you may claim two allowances.
6. If you are married, having a non-working spouse, then you have one dependent, wherefore, you are Head of household and can claim two allowances.
7. If you are married, having a working spouse, and one dependent, then you can claim three allowances.
8. If you are married, having a working spouse, with children, then you can claim two allowances for the couple in addition to each allowance equal to the number of children.
9. Apart from marital status and dependents, you can also claim additional allowances by itemizing your deduction. It is to claim the allowance against buying new property or donations etc.

Note: The points mentioned above are just estimated to calculate your exact number of allowances. You should refer to the Personal Allowance Worked Sheet provided by the IRS for accurate determination.

3. Additional Withholding:

Apart from Federal Income Tax, the employee has to pay additional taxes in the form of FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) Tax that includes:

• Social Security:

Social Security is the portion of an amount withheld from employee's and employer's income for the Social Security Program. This program helps millions of American residents by paying for their retirement, disability, and survivorship.

Social Security is charged on employees at the rate of 6.2% of their first taxable wages up to $160,200 (2024) earned in a calendar year. Besides, employers pay a matching amount for each of its employees.

• Medicare:

It is the portion of an employee's and employer's wage that is withheld for a federal health insurance program. This program pays for the medical treatment of millions of American residents. The Health Insurance Program consists of four parts; medical insurance, hospital insurance, Medicare Advantage plans, and prescription drug coverage.

Medicare is charged on employees at the rate of 1.45% of their first taxable wages up to $200,000 earned in a calendar year. Besides, employers pay a matching amount for each of the employees.

Note: For the Latest Medicare Rates, you can refer to the IRS Website.

4. Additional Medicare Taxes:

If an employee earns more than $200,000 in taxable wages than he/she is subjected to pay Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9%.

Section 3 – State Withholding;

Besides Federal Income Taxes, employers are required to withheld an additional amount from the employee's Salary as State Income Tax. The withholding amount and state rules vary from State to State.

Our Paycheck Calculator is updated with all the rules and rates for State Income Tax. Wherefore, you need to choose your desired state from the dropdown menu under the "State Withholding" section. Moreover, you can also use the paycheck calculator dedicated to each of the states by choosing your desired state from the list below.

Note: As this Paycheck Calculator is mainly designed for the United States, therefore, only States of the United States are included in the dropdown menu.

Section 4 – Additional Information:

In this section, you need to enter your Name and Date of Paycheck Calculation.

Some Points to Remember:

Before jumping to the guide on how to use our paycheck calculator, here are a few points that the employers and employees must remember regarding Federal and State Withholding tax:

1. W-4 form:

Every employee must fill out the W-4 form and submit it to his/her employer, who later presents it to the IRS. This form includes all the personal information, including your Marital Status, your dependents, Head of Household information, number of children as dependents, etc.

2. Tax Exemptions:

Employees with very low earning are not liable to pay taxes. If somehow, they have paid them, then they are likely to get a refund at the end of the fiscal year.

3. HSA and FSA:

Apart from Social Security, Medicare, and Additional Medicare, employees also have an option to opt for Health Saving Account and Flexible Spending Account, which helps people save money for future medical expenses. The amount of these programs is also deducted from the paycheck as additional withholding.

4. Pre-Tax Contributions:

The employee also has an option for pre-tax retirement contributions such as 401(k) or 403(b), where a certain percentage of amount is withheld from the paycheck before any income taxes are withheld. Making such pre-tax contributions decreases the amount of income tax you have to pay. Moreover, you also get an advantage to grow your money at a specific rate according to your opted plan, where tax is only applicable when you withdraw it.

5. Post-Tax Contributions:

Other than Pre-tax contributions, you can also go for Post-tax contributions such as Roth 401(k) contributions. It is the amount withheld after your income-tax deductions from a paycheck. The advantages of such contributions are your contributed money will grow on a specific rate, and will not be charged with any taxes on withdrawing it. (as you have already paid it on the time of withholding).

6. City/ Locality/ Municipal Income Tax:

Although this tax is very uncommon in the U.S., 1/10^th of the total population of the United States are subjected to pay City/ Locality/ Municipal Income Tax along with State and Federal Tax. This tax is usually charged to the residents of large cities such a New York. Therefore, if you are subjected to such tax, then you must include it into your Additional Withholdings.

How to use US Paycheck Calculator?

As you have learned about all the essential terms regarding Paycheck calculations, you don't need any further rocket science to operate our Paycheck Calculator. Follow the steps below and get results in no time:

Note: As required, information to calculate paycheck varies with Pay Type; Hourly and Salary, so we have divided the steps below into types. Each Scenario is for each Pay Type.

Scenario 1 – Pay Type = Salary:

Step 1:

1. Upon launching the Calculator, you have to choose your pay type in Section 1. As this Type is for Pay Type: Salary, so we have chosen "salary" from the Pay Type menu.
2. Next, you need to type in your Gross Pay.
3. Finally, you need to select your pay frequency; it is how often you are paid.

Note: You can refer to "Section 1 – Income Information" under "Why use our Paycheck Calculator?" heading, above, to read complete details about Pay Type and Pay Frequency.

Step 2:

1. After the input of data in Section 1, you have to select your Marital Status; Single or Married, in Section 2.
2. Next is to define the number of Withholding Allowances.
3. Input your Additional Withholding amount.

Note: You can refer to "Section 2 – Federal Withholding" under "Why use our Paycheck Calculator?" heading (above) to read complete details about Marital Status, Withholding Allowances, and Additional Withholding.

Step 3:

1. Choose your State where you work in America for determining the Withholding rates that you will be charged for State Income Tax as a salaried employee.
2. Upon selection of state (few states only), a new field will appear. Here you need to select your Marital Status; Married or Single, and input your "Additional Withholding" accordingly.

Note: For more details, please refer to "Section 3 – State Withholding", under "Why use our Paycheck Calculator?" heading above.

Step 4:

1. In the Last Section, you need to enter your Name and Date.
2. Finally, you need to click on the "Calculate Paycheck" Button to complete your process and get a result in the form of a table (as shown in the example image below).
3. You can also use the "Back" button to edit the details and "Download PDF" button to download the results in PDF format.

Scenario 2 – Pay Type - Hourly:

Step 1:

1. Upon launching the Calculator, you have to choose your pay type in Section 1. As this Type is for Pay Type: Hourly, so we have chosen "Hourly" from the Pay Type menu.
2. Next, you need to select your pay frequency; Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Monthly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annually; it's how often you are paid.
3. Enter your regular hourly rate.
4. Enter your Regular Hours worked in the "Hours (Straight Time)" field.
5. Next, you need to enter your Overtime Hours (if any) in the "Hours (Time & ½)" field.
6. Now, enter your double-time hours (if any) in "Hours (Double Time)."
7. Finally, you need to enter your Bonus, Commission, or Tip amount (If any).

Step 2:

1. After the input of data in Section 1, you have to select your Marital Status; Single or Married, in Section 2.
2. Next is to define the number of Withholding Allowances.
3. Input your Additional Withholding amount.

Note: You can refer to "Section 2 – Federal Withholding" under "Why use our Paycheck Calculator?" heading (above) to read complete details about Marital Status, Withholding Allowances, and Additional Withholding.

Step 3:

1. Choose your State where you are working in the U.S for determining the Withholding rates that you will be charged for State Income Tax as an Hourly employee.
2. Upon selection of state, a new field will appear, where you need to select your Marital Status; Married or Single, and input your "Additional Withholding" accordingly.

Note: For more details, please refer to "Section 3 – State Withholding", under "Why use our Paycheck Calculator?" heading above.

Step 4:

4. In the Last Section, you need to enter your Name and Date.
5. Finally, you need to click on the "Calculate Paycheck" Button to complete your process and get a result in the form of a table.
6. You can also use the "Back" button to edit the details and "Download PDF" button to download the results in PDF format.

Semi-Monthly VS Bi-weekly Pay Frequency: Which one is better?

If you are thinking about the differences and advantages of bi-weekly and semi-monthly payment methods, read the points below:

• From the employees' perspective, the bi-weekly payment method is better. It is because employees are paid 26 times a year, in contrast with semi-weekly where employees are paid 24 times; hence, they are paid more in bi-weekly.
• From the perspective of the employer, the semi-weekly method is efficient because they have to prepare and pay two fewer payrolls to their employees every year.
• From the perspective of the organization, the bi-weekly payroll is easy to implement as paychecks are prepared every two weeks on the same day. In contrast, in semi-weekly's payroll day keeps on shifting.
• Bi-weekly methods make it easy for employees to budget their income due to their fixed payment day.
• Employers having employees on salary prefer a semi-weekly approach. Whereas employers with employees on hourly rates prefer bi-weekly approach, as it is easy to process, pay, and budget accordingly.
• During a leap year, employers are paid 27 times in a year using the bi-weekly approach, whereas, employees would be paid only 24 times by semi-monthly method.

FAQs