Biglaw California -- how much $$$ after taxes? Forum

[qwerfdsa]

Anyone have an idea of how much money is made after taxes on a $160,000 salary in California? Thanks so much.

[Aeon]

Anyone have an idea of how much money is made after taxes on a $160,000 salary in California? Thanks so much.

It's hard to say what the take-home will be, because it's important to know your filing status, what deductions you take, etc. Your effective rate can vary greatly depending on whether you're single or married, whether you contribute to a traditional 401(k), and so forth. But you can certainly count on having FICA taxes withheld from your paycheck (6.2% of the first $118,500 you earn during the year, plus 1.45% on your entire wages).

As for income taxes, you can find the federal tax brackets beginning on page 5 of: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-15-53.pdf, and the California brackets at: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2015_Calif ... ions.shtml. Assuming you're single, your top marginal rate will probably be around 25% to 28% federally and 9.30% for California. But the effective rate will be lower, because of the graduated rates.

[qwerfdsa]

Thank you. From the websites you pointed me toward, I calculated it, and it seems like the take-home amount is around 100K. This makes sense. A few of the "auto-calculate" websites I had been on had put the amount at 70K, which was really scary for me. Anyone able to confirm that around 100K in California sounds right?

[El Pollito]

Thank you. From the websites you pointed me toward, I calculated it, and it seems like the take-home amount is around 100K. This makes sense. A few of the "auto-calculate" websites I had been on had put the amount at 70K, which was really scary for me. Anyone able to confirm that around 100K in California sounds right?

yes, that's right. your math skills are troubling though.

[qwerfdsa]

If my math skills were troubling, then 100K would not be right ...

[qwerfdsa]

On http://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/paycheck-calculator/ , it said this:

Gross Pay:
Salary $160,000.00

Taxes:
Federal Income Tax -$60,954.97
Social Security -$7,347.00
Medicare -$2,320.00
CA Income Tax -$21,776.60
CA State Disability Tax -$960.68

NET PAY $66,640.75

[Tiago Splitter]

On http://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/paycheck-calculator/ , it said this:

Gross Pay:
Salary $160,000.00

Taxes:
Federal Income Tax -$60,954.97
Social Security -$7,347.00
Medicare -$2,320.00
CA Income Tax -$21,776.60
CA State Disability Tax -$960.68

NET PAY $66,640.75

That's a withholding calculator. If you claim 0 on your W-4 and make 160k salary that's what you would have withheld. You'd obviously be getting a lot of that back when you file your tax return.

[qwerfdsa]

Thank you. This makes sense.

[Anonymous User]

I don't have my stubs in front of me but I think my overall tax rate ended up being pretty close to 40% after bonus, which may vary slightly depending on healthcare, 401k, etc. as a first year, somewhere just north of 100k take home.