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2011 Tax Tables, Official IRS Federal Income Tax Brackets

By Pinyo, on November 14, 2011

The following article contains information about the marginal federal income tax brackets for 2011. You’ll need this information to prepare and file your 2011 tax return in early 2012. To the extent that the information in this article helps summarize the changes in Federal Income Tax, you should consult the official IRS.gov web site and a professional tax advisor as needed.

Federal Tax Rates Schedule For Tax Year 2011 versus 2009 and 2010

The table below gives you the marginal tax brackets for single, married couples filing jointly, qualifying widowers, married filing separately, head of household, as well as the long-term capital gains and qualified dividend tax rates. The income numbers listed are taxable incomes, and thus they have taken into consideration all available personal exemptions as well as any of either the standard or itemized deductions.

2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets

The numbers for previous years are also provided to give you an idea of some of the changes.

Income Tax	Single		Married Filing Jointly / Qualifying Widower		Married Filing Separately		Head of Household		LTCG/ QD*
Rate	over	up to	over	up to	over	up to	over	up to	Rate
10%	0	8,500	0	17,000	0	8,500	0	12,150	0%
15%	8,500	34,500	17,000	69,000	8,500	34,500	12,150	46,250	0%
25%	34,500	83,600	69,000	139,350	34,500	69,675	46,250	119,400	15%
28%	83,600	174,400	139,350	212,300	69,675	106,150	119,400	193,350	15%
33%	174,400	379,150	212,300	379,150	106,150	189,575	193,350	379,150	15%
35%	379,150		379,150		189,575		379,150		15%

* Long-Term Capital Gains and Qualified Dividend

2010 Federal Income Tax Brackets

Income Tax	Single		Married Filing Jointly / Qualifying Widower		Married Filing Separately		Head of Household		LTCG/ QD*
Rate	over	up to	over	up to	over	up to	over	up to	Rate
10%	0	8,375	0	16,750	0	8,375	0	11,950	0%
15%	8,375	34,000	16,750	68,000	8,375	34,000	11,950	45,550	0%
25%	34,000	82,400	68,000	137,300	34,000	68,650	45,550	117,650	15%
28%	82,400	171,850	137,300	209,250	68,650	104,625	117,650	190,550	15%
33%	171,850	373,650	209,250	373,650	104,625	186,825	190,550	373,650	15%
35%	373,650		373,650		186,825		373,650		15%

2009 Federal Income Tax Brackets

Income Tax	Single		Married Filing Jointly / Qualifying Widower		Married Filing Separately		Head of Household		LTCG/ QD*
Rate	over	up to	over	up to	over	up to	over	up to	Rate
10%	0	8,350	0	16,700	0	8,350	0	11,950	0%
15%	8,350	33,950	16,700	67,900	8,350	33,950	11,950	45,500	0%
25%	33,950	82,250	67,900	137,050	33,950	68,525	45,500	117,450	15%
28%	82,250	171,550	137,050	208,850	68,525	104,425	117,450	190,200	15%
33%	171,550	372,950	208,850	372,950	104,425	186,475	190,200	372,950	15%
35%	372,950		372,950		186,475		372,950		15%

How to Calculate Your Tax Liability

Before we highlight the changes, let’s take a moment to show you how to calculate your Federal income tax liability so that you can better understand how tax brackets work. Let’s look at the following example, suppose your taxable income (after deductions and exemptions) is exactly $100,000 in 2011 and your status is Single; then your tax would be calculated like this:

(	$8,500 minus	$0 )	x 10% =	$850.00
(	$34,500 minus	$8,500 )	x 15% =	$3,900.00
(	$83,600 minus	$34,500 )	x 25% =	$12,275.00
(	$100,000 minus	$83,600 )	x 28% =	$4,592.00
	Total:	$ 21,617.00

The $100,000 taxable income puts you in the 28% tax bracket, since that’s the highest rate applied to any of your income; but your effective tax rate as a percentage of $100,000 is 21.62%. Comparing 2010 tax rates, you are paying $92.25 less tax in 2011 for the same income.

Although the information in this article helps summarize the changes in Federal Income Tax, you should consult the official IRS.gov web site and a professional tax advisor as needed.

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Pinyo is the owner of Moolanomy Personal Finance and an entrepreneur with over 20 years of business experience. He is interested in business management, investing and wealth management. He has written for many online publications, including American Express Currency and U.S. News Money. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

2012 Important Tax and Filing Dates

2011 Tax Center

Recent Forum Discussions

Add Your Question or Comment (7 Comments)

APF:

December 26, 2010 at 10:20 pm

Thanks for this! I’ve definitely been thinking about tax time with a Roth conversion, and watching the news as the senate and then house debated the tax cut extension.

It’s nice to see someone highlight how marginal tax rates work too – I found myself recently explaining that to someone. And, ironically, forgetting how they worked and stressing out about an upcoming raise that would have put me in a much higher tax bracket next year had the cuts not been extended.
Bernz:

December 30, 2010 at 7:59 pm

Another timely article from you Pinyo. Great information here and the perfect time to be thinking of the good ‘old’ Uncle Sam. Thank you and have a wonderful New Year to you and your readers.
jim:

April 4, 2011 at 5:00 pm

would like federal tax on $10,283
Pinyo:

April 5, 2011 at 9:22 am

@jim – The answer depends on your filing status. Also, there might be tax credits and deductions that you’re eligible for that would reduce your tax burden further.
Daniel S. Stanley:

November 30, 2011 at 7:00 pm

What is the tax liability for Married filing Jointly, 2 exemptions, 46,750.00 husband 81 wife 75. 2011 Joint Tax Return.
Douglas C:

March 24, 2012 at 8:41 pm

What is a good general method to estimate the quarterly payments for 2012 federal tax?
Pinyo:

March 25, 2012 at 8:21 am

@Douglas – I look at last year (2011) total tax payment because I don’t anticipate a big change in 2012.

Take your total tax owe and divide that by your total AGI to get an effective tax rate (it’s 21% for me). At the end of each quarter, I plan to check how much I have earned vs how much I paid in taxes. If I paid less than 21%, I will send in the difference in quarterly payments.

You can also do the same for your state and local taxes.

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