Can you reverse calculate gross pay from net deposit? Mathematically possible?

But wait, aren't fed and state taxes progressive? So wouldn't the percentage change depending on how much you make each check? Like if you get paid more one week because of overtime, wouldn't that throw the calculation off?

You're absolutely right that federal and state taxes are progressive. That's why I mentioned this works best if your withholding is consistent percentage-wise. If your income fluctuates significantly from paycheck to paycheck, the withholding percentages will likely change too. For paychecks with overtime or bonuses, the withholding is often calculated as if you'll make that amount every pay period for the whole year, which can result in higher withholding percentages. This is why many people get tax refunds - their withholding throughout the year was based on these periodic higher amounts.

Does it work for all states? My state has some weird income tax calculations and I've found most online calculators don't get it right.

I'm skeptical about these online calculator things. How does it know your specific tax situation? Like are you married filing jointly or single? Do you have dependents? Doesn't all that stuff affect your withholding amounts?

Yes, it works for all states! They have specific calculations for each state's income tax system. I've used it for both my home state and when I worked temporarily in another state - pretty accurate both times. For your situation, you're right that filing status matters a lot. You can adjust all those parameters - filing status, dependents, additional withholding, etc. It asks you those questions upfront so the calculation reflects your specific situation. That's why it was way more accurate than the generic calculators I tried before.

How does this even work? The IRS phone system is notoriously awful. Are you saying this somehow jumps the queue or something?

Sounds like BS to me. Nothing can make the IRS answer their phones faster. They're the government - they don't care how long we wait. I've literally spent entire afternoons on hold.

It doesn't jump the queue exactly. What it does is automate the holding process so you don't have to stay on the phone yourself. Their system navigates the IRS phone tree, holds your place in line, and then calls you when a human agent is available to talk to you. It really does work! I was super surprised too. The way the IRS phone system works, if you call at certain times of day the wait can be 3+ hours. What Claimyr does is essentially wait in that virtual line for you so you're not stuck with your phone to your ear the whole time. When I got the call back, I was connected to an actual IRS agent who answered all my tax calculation questions.

Thanks for this approach! I actually just tried it with my last paystub and current one. Last time I got $1200 gross and $810 net, so that's about 67.5% making it to my bank account. Using that ratio for my current $675 net would give me about $1000 gross, which sounds in the right ballpark. This is actually super helpful for budgeting purposes. I've been trying to figure out how many hours I need to work to hit certain savings goals, and knowing how to translate between gross and net makes that way easier.

Glad it was helpful! Just keep in mind that if you ever get a raise, have a pay period with overtime, or change your withholding allowances, that percentage could change. But for regular paychecks, it's a quick and dirty way to estimate. If you really want to be precise, you'd need to recreate the entire withholding calculation that your payroll system uses, which gets pretty complex with the tax brackets, allowances, etc. Most people don't need that level of detail though.

Not everyone has that option though. My company outsources payroll and the customer service is terrible. I asked once and they just sent me a generic explanation of what taxes are lol. Thanks for nothing!

This is really helpful! I'm new to figuring out payroll calculations and your method sounds way more practical than trying to recreate the entire tax table system. Quick question though - does the "take-home percentage" method still work if you have state taxes? I'm in a state with income tax and I'm wondering if that adds another variable that would throw off the calculation. Also, do you know if things like pre-tax parking deductions or transit passes would affect this percentage method? I don't have any of those right now but might add them later.

Yes, the take-home percentage method absolutely works with state taxes! In fact, state taxes are usually more predictable than federal because most states use simpler flat rates or brackets. When you calculate your take-home percentage from a previous paystub, it automatically includes whatever state taxes were withheld, so you don't need to worry about that separately. For pre-tax deductions like parking or transit passes - those would actually make your calculation MORE accurate, not less! Pre-tax deductions reduce your taxable income, which means you pay less in taxes overall. Since they come out before taxes are calculated, they create a more consistent net-to-gross ratio. Just make sure when you're calculating your baseline percentage, you're using a paystub that either has the same pre-tax deductions or no pre-tax deductions as the paycheck you're trying to reverse-calculate. The key is consistency - as long as your deduction situation is similar between the paystubs you're comparing, the percentage method works really well!

That's a really good point about the supplemental rate! I didn't know about that 22% flat rate for bonuses and commissions - that would definitely throw off any percentage-based calculations if you're trying to reverse-engineer a paycheck that included those types of payments. The bi-weekly vs semi-monthly thing is something I always get confused about too. 26 pay periods means each paycheck represents 1/26th of your annual salary, which is slightly different from twice-monthly payments that would be 1/24th. That small difference could definitely add up over the course of a year. Your ballpark estimate of $850-950 gross for the $675 net sounds about right based on what I've seen with my own paychecks. It's helpful to have a reality check number like that before diving into all the detailed calculations!

This is exactly the kind of professional insight I was hoping to see in this thread! The point about cumulative wage adjustments is fascinating - I had no idea that year-to-date earnings could affect current withholding calculations. That would definitely explain why some of my paychecks seem to have slightly different tax percentages even when the gross amount is similar. The rounding issue makes total sense too. I've noticed when I try to manually calculate my taxes, I'm often off by a few dollars, and now I understand why. Each deduction getting rounded separately would definitely create those small discrepancies that add up. Do you happen to know if there's a way to predict or account for those cumulative adjustments when doing reverse calculations? Or is that something that's basically impossible to figure out without access to the actual payroll system? Thanks for sharing your expertise - this is the kind of detailed explanation that really helps understand what's happening behind the scenes!

The cumulative wage adjustment issue is really tricky to predict without payroll system access. Most systems use a "wage bracket method" or "percentage method" that looks at your total wages so far this year to determine where you fall in the tax brackets for withholding purposes. For example, if you had a few months of lower pay earlier in the year, your current paychecks might have slightly lower federal withholding rates because the system thinks you're in a lower annual income bracket. Conversely, if you had some high-pay periods (overtime, bonuses), current withholding might be higher. The best workaround I've found is to use the most recent 2-3 paystubs to calculate your percentage, rather than just one from several months ago. This gives you a more current picture of your withholding rates. Also, if you're doing this calculation in January or February, be extra cautious because payroll systems often reset their year-to-date calculations and withholding can be less predictable in those early months. If you really need precision, you could track your actual net-to-gross ratios over several pay periods and look for patterns or trends. Most people don't need that level of detail, but it can be helpful if you're trying to catch payroll errors or plan major financial decisions.

The ADP net pay estimator tip is really valuable! I hadn't thought to check if my company's HR portal had tools like that. I just logged into our system and found we have something similar through our payroll provider. It's not quite reverse calculation, but like you said, I can trial-and-error different gross amounts until I get close to my known net pay. Your point about effective tax rates is a great way to think about it too. I calculated mine and it's sitting around 23% total between federal, state, Social Security and Medicare. So roughly 77% take-home, which aligns pretty well with the percentage method everyone's been discussing. I'm definitely going to start tracking my net-to-gross ratios over the next few paychecks to see how consistent they are. This whole thread has been incredibly educational - I had no idea payroll calculations were this nuanced! Thanks for sharing the ADP tip, that's going to save me a lot of manual math.