What tax bracket am I in?

Question

I am single, no children, and I make $38,500 a year. What tax bracket does that put me in and what does that mean?

Answer 1

15% bracket. Your first 15,650 of taxable income is taxed at 10% and then your next 16,200 is taxed at 15%. The 25% Bracket does not begin until taxable income is $31,850. You make 38,500 - standard deduction of 5,350 - personal exemption of 3,400 = 29,750 taxable income. So you are in the 15% bracket. If you got a raise of more than 2,100 you'd be bumped up to the next bracket which is 25%. But it wouldn't be all your income that would be taxed at 25%, just the taxable income about 31,850.

Answer 2

15%. This doesn't mean that you pay 15% on all of your income though. The first $8750 isn't taxed at all, then the next $7550 is taxed at 10%, then the rest is taxed at 15%.

Answer 3

rough guess - you're in the 15% tax bracket, which means each additional dollar you earn above your basic 38.5k is taxed at 15% a the federal level (plus FICA, state, local, etc)