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Free pension contribution tax savings calculator. Estimate how much traditional pre-tax deferrals might lower your simplified federal income tax for the year, with an optional rough state marginal layer and per-pay spread. More on the payroll and tax calculator hub.
Last updated: April 21, 2026
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Total (federal + optional state) / year
$2,640
~$101.54 per pay (26 pays)
Federal savings / year
$2,640
Eff. federal on deferral: 22.0%
State (marginal %) / year
$0
Federal tax before → after deferral
$12,741 → $10,101
Taxable income: $80,400 → $68,400 (std. ded. $14,600)
Deferral capped at annual gross in-tool. FICA savings not shown (usually $0 for typical qualified elective deferrals).
Ordinary income model
Progressive brackets
Savings depend on where your taxable income sits—not a single flat percent unless you are in one bracket slice.
Taxable base
Wages minus std. ded.
Matches the simplified federal stack used across related paycheck education calculators.
Annual savings ÷ periods
Weekly to monthly
Helps compare deferral elections to take-home swings between pay cycles.
0–15% add-on
Rough state layer
Not a full state return—use when you have a reasonable marginal read from prior returns or software.
Federal savings ÷ deferral
Blended slice
Useful when comparing to a flat “tax rate” assumption in other retirement spreadsheets.
Notes & rules
What we skip
Detailed mode lists AMT, credits, plan limits, and FICA nuances not modeled.
$120,000 gross, $19,500 pre-tax deferral, married filing jointly, biweekly, 5% optional state marginal on deferral (illustrative only):
Federal savings / year
$2,340
Total savings / year
$3,315
The calculator annualizes your gross wages and subtracts the federal standard deduction for your filing status to get taxable income without deferrals. It then subtracts your pre-tax deferral from wages before the same standard deduction to get taxable income with deferrals. Simplified federal ordinary brackets are applied to both bases; the difference in annual tax is your modeled federal savings. An optional state marginal percentage multiplies your deferral to approximate additional state income tax savings. Employee FICA is generally still computed on gross wages for typical qualified elective deferrals, so FICA is not shown as reduced here.
Gross → taxable w/ & w/o deferral → federal tax delta → optional state × deferral → per-payCompare long-run outcomes with the Roth vs traditional tax savings calculator.
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