See what makes up the bill
Explore modeled federal, state, local, payroll, and investment-related taxes across the planning horizon.
Tax analytics
See the tax picture.
Beyond this year.
Your income changes over a lifetime. Your estimated taxes do too. Explore the years, brackets, and sources behind the bill.
Tax analyticsInside MoneyWhatIf
See what’s possible
Where are the tax pressure points in your plan?
Explore how retirement, investment income, and withdrawals change the tax picture before trying a different strategy.
Read the detailed guideOpen the calculation behind a year
Inspect bracket ladders, deductions, and tax worksheets to understand how the year’s inputs lead to its estimate.
Explore the next dollar
Use the tax map to examine the modeled tax effect of additional ordinary income and identify changes in marginal rates.
Explore the details
See how each income source contributes to tax
Wages, investment income, employer contributions, conversions, and capital gains enter the calculation differently. The selected-year view shows gross income beside its attributed direct tax and effective source bands. It helps explain the bill’s composition while keeping these effective rates distinct from statutory marginal tax brackets.
- Compare gross income with the direct tax attributed to it.
- Select another year to see how the mix changes after retirement.
Income and tax sourcesInside MoneyWhatIf
From a question to a clearer picture
Trace a tax question through the plan
Start with the lifetime pattern, then narrow the view to the year and source of income you want to understand.
Check the inputs behind the estimate
Review household filing status, location, income streams, and account types in your plan. Include account ownership and cost basis where relevant. These details help the projection distinguish wages, retirement withdrawals, investment gains, and the other amounts that shape a year's tax picture.
Select a year that stands out
Open Tax analytics and select a bar in the lifetime chart. Use the selected-year breakdown to see which taxes contribute to the total. Continue to the bracket ladders and worksheets when you want to follow taxable income through the calculation.
Turn an observation into a comparison
Use the tax map to explore the modeled cost of additional ordinary income in that year. If the pattern raises a planning question, try a change in What-If or Tax Planning, then return to inspect how the affected years and lifetime totals move.
Connect the whole plan
Put a tax year into a lifetime decision
A lower tax bill in one year does not by itself describe the best outcome over a lifetime. Conversion analysis connects an added tax cost today with later withdrawals and ending balances. Move between these views to understand both the annual calculation and the longer trade-off being modeled.
- Review taxes paid now alongside later tax exposure.
- Compare the complete forecast with the no-conversion baseline.
Roth conversion analysisInside MoneyWhatIf
One way to use it · illustrative scenario
Explore a gap between working income and later withdrawals
Imagine a household planning to leave work before its larger retirement-account withdrawals begin. It wants to understand the tax pattern across that transition.
Try an example planThe choice to explore
Create a hypothetical earlier retirement date while keeping the rest of the plan's assumptions consistent.
Where to look
Compare the last working year, the first retired year, and a later withdrawal year. Look at taxable income, the tax categories, and where ordinary income lands on the bracket ladder.
What you could learn
The comparison reveals which years deserve further exploration. A lower annual bill alone does not establish that the whole financial plan improved.
Make sense of what you see
Read the chart without losing the detail
Bars and the line answer different questions
The stacked bars show estimated tax amounts by category. The effective-rate line expresses a rate. Read their separate axes: a taller tax bar can coexist with a lower effective rate when the underlying income changes.
The side panel belongs to one year
The selected-year panel explains the highlighted bar. Check its year before comparing the total, taxable income, or individual taxes with another screen. Moving the selection changes the question from a lifetime pattern to one annual calculation.
Keep the money basis consistent
Today's money expresses future amounts in current purchasing power; the alternative displays future dollars. Use the same setting across comparisons so inflation does not look like a change in the strategy's effect.
A little more detail
Good questions to start with.
Is the effective rate the tax on my next dollar?
No. The effective rate summarizes the modeled year. The marginal bracket describes the last slice of taxable income, while the tax map explores interactions when more ordinary income is added. That map prices conversions and withdrawals; a wage increase would add payroll tax beyond the displayed curve.
Can I change a tax number directly on this page?
The page reads the projection's calculations. Change the relevant household, income, investment, property, or tax-planning assumption in the plan, then inspect the resulting estimate here. Selecting a year changes the view rather than the underlying plan.
Does this replace preparing a tax return?
It is a scenario view using the product's documented annual tax model. Coverage and assumptions matter, and future rules can differ. Use the worksheets to understand the estimate and the methodology to check what the model includes.
Keep exploring
The next piece of your picture.
Roth conversion planning
Compare conversion strategies and see the trade-offs between taxes today, later withdrawals, and ending wealth.
Cash flow planning
Plan household cash flow across working years and retirement. Trace income into taxes, living costs, investments, and the cash you keep.
Strategy Lab
Test combinations of saving, spending, investing, property, and tax choices against the outcome you choose.
Know the language
Financial terms behind this feature
HENRY (High Earner, Not Rich Yet)Pre-Tax ContributionSocial Security Tax TorpedoIncome TaxTax BracketsMarginal Tax RateEffective Tax RateAdjusted Gross Income (AGI)Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI)Taxable IncomeEarned IncomeNon-Taxable IncomeStandard DeductionItemized DeductionsSALT DeductionBunching Deductions
Browse all financial termsYour next chapter
Bring your own what-if.
Start with your numbers. See where they could lead.