PPaycheckCals

Paycheck Guides

Everything that shows up on a pay stub, explained by someone who is not trying to sell you payroll software. Start with the W-4 if your withholding is wrong, or the troubleshooting guide if a specific paycheck surprised you.

Forms and withholding

How to Fill Out Form W-4 (2026)A line-by-line walkthrough of the 2026 Form W-4, including the Step 2 checkbox, dependent credits and where the new tips, overtime and senior deductions go. How Federal Income Tax Withholding WorksA plain-English walkthrough of the IRS percentage method: how your W-4 becomes a dollar amount on your paycheck, with the 2026 schedules.

Paycheck troubleshooting

Why Did My Paycheck Go Down?Your paycheck shrank and nothing obvious changed. Why Is My Bonus Taxed So High?Bonuses are withheld at a flat 22% or annualized under the aggregate method — but they are taxed at your ordinary rate.

2026 tax changes

No Tax on Tips and Overtime: What It Actually MeansThe One Big Beautiful Bill Act deductions for tips, overtime and seniors — what qualifies, the caps and phase-outs, and why your paycheck did not change.

Paycheck basics

How to Read a Pay StubWhat each section and abbreviation on a US pay stub means, from gross earnings to year-to-date totals, and the four checks worth doing every time. Gross Pay vs Net PayWhat gross pay and net pay mean, why the gap is 20% to 35% for most workers, and which parts of it you can change.

Multi-state and remote work

Working in Two StatesHow state withholding works when you live in one state and work in another — reciprocity, resident credits, part-year returns and the convenience-of-the-employer rule. Working Two Jobs: The Withholding ProblemTwo jobs almost always means under-withholding.

Deductions

Pre-Tax vs Post-Tax DeductionsWhich payroll deductions come out before tax, which come out after, and exactly how much each type saves you in 2026.

Pay frequency

The 27-Paycheck YearWhy some years contain 27 bi-weekly paychecks instead of 26, how employers handle it, and what it means for your salary, deductions and benefits.

Rates and thresholds

Employment status

Life events

Benefits

Equity and bonuses

Self-employment

Retirement

Leave and insurance

Leaving a job

Special situations

Money management

Where most people should start

Three guides cover the large majority of paycheck questions. The W-4 walkthrough walks through every line of the form that controls your federal withholding, including the Step 2 box that causes more April surprises than anything else. Why did my paycheck go down is a diagnostic: work through twelve causes in order and one of them will match. And how federal withholding works explains the arithmetic underneath both — the annualization step that makes overtime and bonuses look over-taxed when they are not.

What changed for 2026

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created deductions for qualified tips, qualified overtime premium pay and taxpayers aged 65 or over, all running through 2028. None of them are built into the 2026 withholding tables, which is why so many people expected a bigger paycheck in January and did not get one. The full explanation sets out what actually happened and what to do about it.

At state level, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio all cut rates; Utah and West Virginia did so mid-year with retroactive effect; and Minnesota launched a new paid-leave payroll deduction on 1 January. Each state page carries that state's changes.

How these guides are written

Every figure is computed from the same engine that powers the calculators, and every rule is sourced from the relevant IRS publication or state withholding guide rather than from other websites. Where something is genuinely uncertain — a mid-year rate change, a state that has not reissued its tables — the guide says so rather than picking a number. The methodology page documents the sources.