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The offer letter says $80,000. Divide by 12 and it looks like $6,667 a month, but a real deposit is smaller. A pay stub explains why—if you distinguish wages, taxes, and money you chose to put into benefits. Here is how to read those lines without treating an online estimate as a promise about your next paycheck.
Correction, September 28, 2026: Earlier share images presented “$80,000 → $5,000 monthly net” as though it were a general result and said no salary data left the browser. Neither claim was reliable: this page’s specified single-filer, zero-state-rate annual model ÷ 12 is $5,425.83, and opening a URL with salary in its query string sends that string in a hosting request. The old images have been withdrawn. Neither figure predicts a real paycheck.
Start with the three wage figures, not one subtraction
Gross pay is earnings before payroll deductions. Net pay is what remains after withholding and any employee-paid benefits or other deductions. Between them, a pay stub can show different taxable wage bases: federal income-tax wages, Social Security wages, and Medicare wages need not match.
That is why there is no universal four-step order where every “pre-tax” deduction reduces every tax. Check what each line actually changes before trying to reconstruct your deposit. State or local taxes, post-tax insurance, garnishments, and other employer-specific items may also appear.
Benefit elections change different tax bases
A traditional 401(k) deferral generally reduces current federal taxable income. It does not remove those deferred wages from Social Security or Medicare wages. A Roth 401(k) deferral does not get that current federal-income-tax exclusion. Those distinctions are set out in the IRS 401(k) participant guide.
Qualifying employer health coverage paid through a tax-favored plan can be excluded from both income-tax and FICA wages. Other payroll arrangements may be treated differently. The IRS 2026 employer tax guide explains the distinction, including the special treatment of HSA contributions through a Section 125 cafeteria plan. Read your benefit election and pay stub rather than assuming every “pre-tax” item has the same effect.
A smaller deposit can therefore mean either more tax was withheld or more money went into your own retirement or health account. The deposits serve different purposes; they should not be described as money “lost” to tax.
One salary, three wage bases: a checkable illustration
Suppose an employee has $80,000 of otherwise covered wages for the year, elects $4,000 into a traditional 401(k), and pays $2,000 of qualifying health premiums through a Section 125 cafeteria plan. Assume no other pay or adjustments. The traditional 401(k) reduces federal income-tax wages but generally not FICA wages; the qualifying cafeteria-plan premium reduces both. In this limited illustration, the year-end Form W-2 would show:
| W-2 wage box | Calculation | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|---|
| Box 1 — federal taxable wages | $80,000 − $4,000 − $2,000 | $74,000 |
| Box 3 — Social Security wages | $80,000 − $2,000 | $78,000 |
| Box 5 — Medicare wages | $80,000 − $2,000 | $78,000 |
Regular employee FICA on that $78,000 would be $4,836 Social Security and $1,131 Medicare for the year. The IRS 2026 W-2 instructions define the boxes; the IRS 401(k) guide and employer guide explain these different treatments. The figures are wage bases and FICA, not an estimate of this employee’s net deposit. Actual benefit eligibility, plan rules, other compensation, and withholding can change every line. The site calculator cannot accept either benefit election, so do not enter $74,000 or $78,000 as if either were the original $80,000 gross offer.
Why replacing gross pay with Box 1 fails
Use the same hypothetical employee above: $80,000 gross, a $4,000 traditional 401(k) deferral and $2,000 of qualifying cafeteria-plan health premiums. Compare regular employee FICA only, not net pay:
- Using the illustration’s $78,000 FICA wages: Social Security is $4,836 and Medicare is $1,131, totaling $5,967 for the year.
- Incorrectly using $74,000 as gross: applying 6.2% and 1.45% gives $4,588 and $1,073, totaling $5,661 for the year.
The difference is $306 of understated regular FICA in this example. The $4,000 traditional 401(k) deferral remains in FICA wages. Removing it from gross makes the simple model apply the wrong base to both payroll taxes. The IRS rates and the W-2 and benefit references above support this calculation; annual amounts are calculated before monthly rounding.
You can reproduce the deliberately incorrect input in the US salary estimator: $74,000, single, 0% state rate. Its monthly breakdown shows $382.33 Social Security and $89.42 Medicare. That does not add the missing benefit inputs or reconstruct the original $80,000 pay stub.
The $306 is not lost take-home pay, a refund, or a prediction of a deposit difference. Do not use either wage box as a substitute for gross salary to model benefits. For an unexplained wage-base difference on your own stub, ask payroll which deduction changes which base.
On your own pay stub, check the pay period and gross earnings first. Then find any separate federal, Social Security, and Medicare taxable-wage or year-to-date fields. Compare the withholding lines with voluntary retirement and insurance deductions rather than calling all of them “tax.” At year-end, compare those wage bases with W-2 Boxes 1, 3, and 5; ask payroll about any unexplained difference. A pay stub may label these fields differently, and its current-period figures are not annual W-2 boxes.
FICA: the two payroll-tax lines
For a typical employee with covered wages, the regular rates are:
| Part | Employee rate | 2026 limit |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security | 6.2% | wages up to $184,500 |
| Medicare | 1.45% | no wage cap |
The Social Security Administration’s 2026 wage base is $184,500. Medicare has no wage cap. For an $80,000 covered wage example with no FICA-exempt benefits, the employee’s regular Social Security tax is $4,960 and Medicare tax is $1,160 for the year.
An employer generally begins withholding another 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax after that employer pays you more than $200,000 in a calendar year, regardless of filing status. Your final liability threshold can differ—for example, $250,000 on a joint return—and is reconciled on your return. The employer also pays the regular matching Social Security and Medicare rates; that match is not a second deduction from your pay. IRS Additional Medicare guidance
Federal withholding is not the same as annual tax
Your employer calculates federal paycheck withholding using your pay period and Form W-4 information, including filing status, multiple-job adjustments, credits, deductions, and any extra amount requested. The IRS 2026 withholding methods govern that payroll calculation. It is an advance payment toward your eventual tax bill, not a precise statement of annual liability.
The 2026 federal brackets and standard deductions are progressive: crossing into a higher bracket does not tax your entire income at the new rate. Credits, a spouse’s income, other jobs, itemized deductions, and other taxable income can change the final return.
If too much is withheld you may receive a refund; too little can leave a balance due. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, used with current pay stubs, is a better tool for deciding whether to change your W-4.
State and local lines need their own check
Your state—and sometimes locality—can add another withholding line. Rules vary by location, and a state’s top marginal bracket is not the same thing as your effective rate. The calculator asks you to supply an assumed effective state rate on gross salary; it does not look up state brackets, credits, reciprocity, or local taxes. Verify a real offer with the relevant state tax agency and actual payroll details.
For an illustration, entering 5% for $80,000 means the app subtracts exactly $4,000 in its annual state-tax model. That is an input assumption, not a claim about any actual state’s tax bill.
A checkable $80,000 model—not a pay-stub forecast
Suppose one employee earns only $80,000 in 2026, is modeled as single, uses the $16,100 standard deduction, enters a 0% state rate, and has no credits, other income, benefit deductions, or extra taxes. The site’s simple annual model gives:
| Annual-model line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $80,000 |
| Social Security (6.2%) | −$4,960 |
| Medicare (1.45%) | −$1,160 |
| Estimated federal tax | −$8,770 |
| Modeled annual net | $65,110 |
| Annual net ÷ 12 | $5,425.83 |
The federal-tax arithmetic uses 2026 taxable income of $63,900 ($80,000 − $16,100), taxed in layers: $12,400 at 10%, the next $38,000 at 12%, and the last $13,500 at 22%. Those layers total $8,770. This is not what a particular employer is required to withhold each month; it also omits the benefits and other items listed above.
Enter your own assumptions in the US paycheck calculator to see its annual federal tax and FICA estimate divided by 12, plus the effective state rate you choose. The form has no inputs for W-4 settings, 401(k), HSA, premiums, local tax, or spouse income. Its output can be above or below your actual deposit.
Compare offers without losing the whole picture
Gross salary alone does not tell you what reaches your bank account. Yet modeled net pay alone is not the whole offer either: an employer match, health premiums, bonus structure, and living costs can change which job is better for you.
To compare controlled scenarios, keep filing assumptions the same and change one factor at a time. The companion guide, Same Salary, Different Paycheck, shows how its 2026 example changes under different assumed filing and state-rate inputs.
The calculator runs its math in your browser; ordinary input is not written into the address. Use Sharing options for a page link without inputs, or explicitly select input inclusion (off by default) to preview a scenario link. Review the URL before copying it: opening its query string sends those values in a request that may appear in hosting logs. Clearing an older salary URL from the address bar does not erase its initial request, past links, history or logs. The site’s privacy policy describes this risk.