Founder · AuthorUnited States

Sammy S.

Founder & Author · Paycheck Tax Calculator

I build and maintain Paycheck Tax Calculator — US and Canadian take-home pay, state/provincial engines, and plain-language guides so you can see what actually lands in your bank account.

About Sammy

I'm Sammy, a US-based software engineer who started Paycheck Tax Calculator because most paycheck tools either bury the math, break on mobile, or stop at federal tax and ignore the state or provincial piece that changes your net the most. I wanted a fast, free way to answer: what do I actually take home after FICA (or CPP/EI), income tax, and local rules?

I still write and ship the calculators, comparison pages, and blog myself. Rate tables come from primary publications — IRS, state revenue departments, CRA, and peer authorities elsewhere — and I re-check them when tax years roll and when major budgets land. The blog exists so the same engine numbers show up in sentences you can follow without a spreadsheet.

This is a bootstrapped side project I run alongside a full-time engineering role at a Fortune 100 company (Master's in Computer Science, minor in Economics). Affiliate links, when present, are labeled and never rewrite tax tables or results. If a take-home figure looks off for your state or province, email me — corrections go straight into the engines.

Day to day that means maintaining paycheck engines for the US and Canada, keeping country calculators current for 96+ jurisdictions, and publishing comparison and relocation pages that reuse those same engines — so a California → Texas scoreboard matches what the US calculator would show at the same gross.

Site story, sources & methodology

What I work on

The parts of Paycheck Tax Calculator I maintain most closely — engines first, then pages that reuse those numbers.

Paycheck engines

Federal + state/provincial tax and payroll withholdings (FICA, CPP/EI, NI, and peers) so net pay looks like a real stub — not a headline income-tax rate.

US & Canada depth

All 50 US states (plus DC) and Canadian provinces/territories, including no-tax states, local wage tax where modeled, and province-specific extras such as Ontario Health Premium.

Comparisons & relocation

State-vs-state take-home ladders, city COL pairs, and best-states style guides that call the same calculators used on country pages.

Plain-language writing

Blog posts and methodology sections that show the same numbers as the live engines, with links back to IRS, CRA, HMRC, ATO, and peer publications.

Selected work on this site

Jump into tools and guides I update for tax year 2026.

US paycheck calculator

Federal + state + FICA take-home for every state.

Canada paycheck calculator

Federal + provincial tax with CPP/EI.

State vs state compare

Head-to-head take-home scoreboards and income ladders.

Relocation salary calculator

City COL + after-tax equivalent salary.

Best states for take-home

No-tax states, purchasing power, and corridor examples.

About & official sources

Authority links for major countries and how we update rates.

Research methodology

Engines aim for paycheck-level fidelity: primary authority tables, federal plus sub-national tax where it matters, and payroll withholdings that actually appear on a stub.

Authority publications first

Brackets and payroll rates are taken from IRS, CRA, HMRC, ATO, IRAS, and peer agencies. Calculator pages point at the publications we used — not scraped blogs or crowd-edited wikis.

Paycheck-level engines

US and Canada models include federal tax plus state/provincial tax and payroll withholdings (FICA, CPP/EI) so net pay matches how a real paycheck is built, not just a headline income-tax %.

Tax-year refreshes

I refresh rates when a new tax year starts and again after major budget bills. Mid-year patches land once official tables are published.

Estimates, labeled clearly

Results are planning estimates. Filing status, deductions, credits, and local quirks change real liability — every tool says so up front.

Runs in your browser

Salary inputs stay on your device for the core calculators. No account wall and no paycheck data warehouse on our side.

Primary sources I use

Full source list on About

A sample of authority publications behind the major calculators. Country pages link the same tables.

CHF 100k Salary in Lucerne: Is It Enough?

CHF 100,000 gross in Lucerne 2026: DBSt + cantonal/municipal + social — ~CHF 73,275 take-home. Real city tax differences vs Zurich/Geneva.

How we stay accountable: Paycheck Tax Calculator is bootstrapped and operator-run by Sammy S.. Disclosed affiliates never rewrite tax rate data or calculator results. Figures are planning estimates — confirm with your tax authority or a qualified professional. Updated for tax year 2026.