2026 Tax Bracket Calculator (Filed in 2027) vs Tax-Loss Harvesting Calculator

The IRS has not yet published official tax-year-2027 brackets — those figures are expected around October 2026. This calculator uses the latest IRS-confirmed schedule instead: the tax-year-2026 brackets from Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which govern the return most filers submit in early 2027. Those seven rates are 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%, and for a single filer the 22% bracket begins at $50,400 of taxable income. Brackets shift upward by roughly 2-3% each year for inflation, so when the IRS releases the 2027 figures, expect each threshold to land slightly above its 2026 counterpart rather than change dramatically. Until that publication, treating the 2026 brackets as your working numbers for the return you file in 2027 is accurate — they are the same return, just described by the calendar year the income was earned in versus the year the paperwork is filed.

Your marginal tax rate is the rate charged on your last dollar of taxable income — effectively your highest bracket — while your effective tax rate is the average rate you pay across all your income once every lower bracket is factored in. Under the progressive system the IRS uses (10% through 37% for tax year 2026, per Revenue Procedure 2025-32), only the income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate, so your effective rate is always lower than your marginal rate. For example, a single filer with $90,000 of taxable income sits in the 22% marginal bracket, but because the first $11,925 is taxed at 10%, the next portion at 12%, and so on, their actual effective rate lands closer to 15-16% of total taxable income. Use your marginal rate to judge the tax cost of one more dollar earned; use your effective rate to judge your overall burden.

Tax-loss harvesting is selling investments at a loss to offset capital gains and reduce your tax bill. After selling, you can reinvest in a similar (but not substantially identical) security to maintain market exposure. The IRS allows up to ,000 in net losses to deduct against ordinary income annually.

The wash sale rule prevents you from claiming a tax loss if you buy a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale. For example, selling an S&P 500 ETF at a loss and buying the same ETF within 30 days would disallow the loss. Buying a similar but different fund is allowed.