Ever wonder what the highly trained professionals use to tax plan? Wonder no more! We’ve assembled the ultimate tax guide you can download and reference as you prepare your taxes this year. After all, the more money you can save on taxes, the more money you have for your army of dollar bills, getting you that much closer to reaching your financial goals.

Common Tax Planning Questions We Answer:

• What tax bracket am I in for 2026?
• How much can I contribute to my 401(k) or IRA this year?
• What’s the difference between marginal and effective tax rates?
• When do Roth IRA income phaseouts start in 2026?

What’s Inside the 2026 Tax Guide:

This free downloadable guide provides the essential tax information you need for 2026 tax planning:

• 2026 tax brackets and rates – See taxable income ranges, marginal rates, and tax liability for both Married Filing Jointly and Single filers
• Key tax definitions – Understand marginal tax rate, effective tax rate, and tax liability
• Standard deductions – Know the deduction amounts for your filing status
• Contribution limits – See 2026 limits for 401(k)s, IRAs, HSAs, and other tax-advantaged accounts
• Social Security wage base – Know the 2026 taxable wage limit of $176,100 for Social Security taxes

For more, download your free copy of the 2026 Tax Guide and learn how to legally avoid paying more taxes than you need to.

Ready to dive deeper? Read Money Guy’s Top Tax Planning Strategies to discover our favorite tactics for reducing your lifetime tax bill, and explore our Financial Order of Operations to ensure you’re prioritizing tax-advantaged accounts in the right order.

Changes to retirement accounts

The Consumer Price Index, the preferred measure of inflation in the US, has risen by 2.9% over the last 12 months (compared to 2.4% this time last year). This means retirement account limits are increasing modestly, and in some cases a bit more than they increased last year.

IRA limits didn’t change at all last year, so a $500 increase is welcome. For those of you contributing to your Roth IRA every month, you will need to invest an even $625 every month to maximize your account. If your New Year’s resolution is to max out your 401(k), you’ll need to contribute a little over $2,000 every month to do so.

One Money Guy metric I like to keep an eye on is the gross income someone needs in order to complete Step 6 of the FOO without contributing more than 25% of their income. Assuming you can’t make catch-up contributions and have a Roth IRA, individual HSA, and a 401(k), in 2026 you would need an income of $145,600 to complete Step 6 of the Financial Order of Operations. This essentially means if you make under that amount, contributing to a 401(k), Roth IRA, and HSA will meet the 25% investing goal. If you make over that amount, you may need to utilize a mega backdoor Roth strategy and/or contribute to a taxable brokerage account.

The income phaseouts for retirement plans are also adjusted each year for inflation. If you are expecting your income to stay the same or decrease next year, you could potentially now qualify for Roth IRA contributions without using the backdoor Roth strategy. If you think your income may be higher than these phaseout limits, it is worth planning ahead and utilizing a backdoor Roth if necessary.

Standard deductions and marginal tax rates

This is a weird year for the standard deduction. Legislation passed in July modestly increased the standard deductions for 2025 (by 5% across the board), so when you file taxes in a few months you can expect to get a little extra back than you would have otherwise. About 91% of taxpayers take the standard deduction instead of itemizing.

Marginal tax rates remain unchanged, but income thresholds are also subject to annual inflation increases. Again, if you are expecting your income to decrease or remain the same next year, this means you will be paying a bit less in taxes, all else being equal.

If you are an accountant or tax enthusiast, you can review the full IRS release of changes next year and their separate release detailing changes to retirement accounts. Make sure to download our 2025 Tax Guide as you prepare your taxes next year, and be on the lookout for our 2026 Tax Guide with all of the changes mentioned here and more.