my wife makes 49k a year what tax bracket is she in? If she adds 20k what bracket would that put her in?

Answer 1

For married filing separately, the 25% bracket starts at $30,650 for 2006, the 28% bracket at $61,850. The limits will be a little higher for 2007, but not a lot.

Remember that going into a higher bracket doesn't affect taxes on amounts of your income that are less than the limit - if you had taxable income of $62,000 for 2006, only the last $150 would be taxed at the 28% rate.

I'm not sure what tables the other responder is looking at, but 15% is not correct.

Answer 2

If she files married filing separately, 15%, unless she has lots of deductions. Add the 20k, then she is still at 15% (barely) with the standard deduction, as long as you also take the standard deduction, and possibly 15% if she itemizes. Also 15% if there are "adjustments to income" (traditional IRA) or if 49k is gross before (enough) pretax deductions on her paycheck or she has other other dependents to claim.
There is no simple "guaranteed" answer.

Of course, if you file jointly, which usually makes the most sense, it is your combined income and deductions that count.

Judy, I looked at the tables wrong. Second time you caught me on those. I have to be more careful.