Frequently asked questions

Your most recent pay stub for each job. Look for the YTD (year-to-date) section — you’ll enter your YTD gross income and YTD federal, Social Security, and Medicare withholding. It takes about 60 seconds per job.

Free accounts support up to 2 jobs. Pro supports up to 10. Each job needs a name, annual salary, and pay frequency (weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly). You can add, edit, or remove jobs at any time.

A YTD snapshot is your mid-year data — the running totals from your latest pay stub. You add these throughout the year as new pay stubs arrive. A W2 entry is your final year-end data from the actual W2 form your employer sends in January. The tax engine uses whichever is most recent for each job.

No. Enter the YTD totals from your most recent pay stub — that single entry captures all prior paychecks in aggregate. Update whenever you get a new pay stub, or whenever you want fresher projections. Monthly or per-paycheck is fine; the tool works either way.

Single, Married Filing Jointly (MFJ), Married Filing Separately (MFS), and Head of Household. You set your filing status in your tax profile on the Account page. It applies to all calculations.

W2 tax calculations are accurate to the dollar for all users — free and Pro. The tax engine uses 2026 IRS tax brackets and FICA rates (SS wage base $184,500 at 6.2%), based on CPI-adjusted 2025 published rates. The Liability Estimator shows approximate ±15% ranges for free users and exact projections for Pro users.

The tax engine runs 6 calculations: (1) Federal income tax — progressive brackets applied to combined W2 income minus the standard deduction ($15,700 Single / $31,400 MFJ for 2026). (2) Withholding gap — the difference between your actual combined liability and what your employers withheld. Each employer withholds as if they’re your only job. (3) Social Security overpayment — SS tax (6.2%) applies up to $184,500 per person, but each employer withholds independently up to that cap. (4) Medicare tax — 1.45% on all wages, plus 0.9% on combined wages above $200,000 (Single) or $250,000 (MFJ). (5) W-4 optimization — the exact Line 4(c) extra withholding amount per employer. (6) Quarterly estimated payments — minimum safe harbor amount per quarter.

When you have multiple W2 jobs, each employer runs payroll as if they’re your only employer. Employer A thinks you earn $125K and withholds at that bracket. Employer B thinks you earn $95K and withholds at that bracket. But the IRS adds them together — $220K — which pushes you into a higher bracket. The gap between what all employers withheld in total and what you actually owe is the withholding gap. For someone with 3 jobs totaling $298K, this gap can be $28,000+.

Social Security tax (6.2%) applies only up to $184,500 in wages per person per year. But each employer withholds SS tax independently — they don’t know about your other jobs. If you earn $125K at one job and $95K at another, both employers withhold SS on their full salary, even though your combined wages ($220K) exceed the cap. The excess is reclaimable as a credit when you file, but the money sits at 0% at the IRS until then.

The Additional Medicare Tax is 0.9% on combined wages above $200,000 (Single) or $250,000 (MFJ). It’s on top of the regular 1.45% Medicare tax. The multi-W2 trap: no single employer withholds the additional tax because none of them individually see you exceeding the threshold. You owe it at filing — and if you don’t plan for it, it’s a surprise.

IRS safe harbor rules protect you from underpayment penalties. If your total withholding (plus any estimated payments) equals at least 100% of your prior year’s tax liability — or 110% if your AGI exceeds $150,000 — you’re penalty-safe even if you owe money at filing. MultiW2 calculates your safe harbor threshold when you enter your prior-year W2.

Currently we calculate federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare), and provide W-4 federal withholding recommendations. Multi-state tax modeling is on our roadmap.

TurboTax is for filing taxes after the year ends. MultiW2 is for planning during the year — optimizing your W-4 withholding across multiple employers, tracking Social Security overpayment, and modeling scenarios before making job decisions. They solve different problems. Use MultiW2 throughout the year, then take your numbers to TurboTax (or your CPA) at filing time.

No. MultiW2 is a planning and optimization tool, not tax preparation software. Use it throughout the year to understand your tax picture, then take your year-end prep kit to your accountant or filing software.

Free gives you exact W2 tax calculations for up to 2 jobs, Social Security overpayment detection, and approximate (±15%) liability projections. Pro unlocks: up to 10 jobs, exact Liability Estimator projections, per-job W-4 Line 4(c) recommendations, Tax Scenario Modeler, Benefits Optimizer (401k match allocation across employers), quarterly estimated payment schedule with safe harbor analysis, Year-end Tax Prep Kit, unlimited Job Scanner with web enrichment, and unlimited saved calculations.

$39/quarter or $99/year (save 36%). No monthly billing. Payments are processed by Lemon Squeezy (our merchant of record). You can switch between quarterly and annual, or cancel anytime.

The free tier gives you the full tax calculation engine with exact W2 results — it’s not a crippled trial. You see real numbers from day one. Pro adds precision on the Liability Estimator (exact vs ±15% ranges), scenario modeling, benefits optimization, and the full toolkit. Most users upgrade when they need exact numbers for a quarterly payment decision.

Your data stays accessible in read-only mode. You can still log in and see your saved calculations and job data, but you can’t create new calculations, enter W2 data, or access Pro workflows. You can export or delete your data anytime from your account. Resubscribing restores full access immediately.

Go to Account → Subscription. You can view your current plan, billing cycle, and next payment date. To change plans or cancel, click "Manage subscription" which takes you to the Lemon Squeezy billing portal.

We don’t offer partial-period refunds, but you can cancel anytime and your access continues through the end of your current billing period. If you’re unsure about Pro, start with the free tier — it gives you exact W2 calculations so you can verify the tool works for your situation before upgrading.

Yes. We never connect to your bank accounts or payroll systems. Your data is stored in encrypted databases with row-level security — only you can access your records. We only store what you type in: salary numbers and withholding amounts. No SSN. No employer OAuth. No payroll integration.

Only what you type in: email address (for auth), job names, salaries, pay frequencies, and withholding amounts from your pay stubs. We also store your filing status and subscription status. We do not collect Social Security numbers, bank account information, employer tax IDs, or any data from your employer’s systems. Analytics are cookieless and GDPR-compliant (Vercel Web Analytics).

Yes. Go to Account → scroll to the bottom → "Delete account." This permanently deletes all your data across 7 database tables (profile, jobs, snapshots, W2 entries, saved calculations, benefits, scenarios) plus your authentication record. You’ll need to type "DELETE" to confirm. Deletion is immediate and irreversible.

Yes. Go to Account → "Export data" to download a JSON file containing all your jobs, YTD snapshots, W2 entries, saved calculations, and benefit plans.

By design. Many multi-W2 professionals prefer not to link employer systems together in one tool — and we respect that. Manual data entry means you control exactly what information enters the system. It takes 60 seconds per job and ensures no employer learns about your other positions.

The Tax Scenario Modeler supports 1099 income modeling including self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of net income). You can model adding freelance or contract work alongside your W2 jobs to see the full tax impact.

Enter the YTD numbers from your latest pay stub for each job. The estimator projects your year-end federal tax liability by annualizing your income and withholding data, then calculates the gap. Free users see ±15% ranges. Pro users see exact projections, W-4 adjustment recommendations per employer, quarterly payment schedules, and safe harbor analysis from prior-year W2 data.

Pick a scenario type (quit a job, add a job, change salary, change filing status, adjust retirement contributions, or add 1099 income). The modeler runs the full tax engine on your modified inputs and compares the results to your current baseline across 10 metrics: income, AGI, federal tax, effective rate, Social Security, Medicare, withholding gap, W-4 adjustments, quarterly estimates, and take-home pay. You see the exact dollar delta for each metric.

Add your employer benefit plans (401k match formula, HSA, premiums). The optimizer tracks your combined contributions against IRS limits ($24,500 employee 401k, $4,400 individual HSA for 2026) and recommends which employer to contribute through for maximum match capture. It shows per-paycheck allocation amounts across all your plans.

It calculates the exact dollar amount to enter on Line 4(c) ("Extra withholding") of each employer’s W-4 form. The amount is calculated per pay period based on how many paychecks remain in the year, distributed across your employers to close your withholding gap. For example: "+$543/paycheck at Tech Corp, +$412/paycheck at Consulting LLC."

The scanner evaluates job postings across 6 dimensions on a 0–100 scale: Remote Policy, Async Culture, Meeting Load, Tax Impact, W-4 Complexity, and Schedule Fit. Tax Impact and W-4 Complexity are calculated by the actual tax engine using your current jobs — not AI-generated estimates. The overall score weights all 6 dimensions.

Whenever you get a new pay stub — biweekly or monthly for most people. The Liability Estimator gets more accurate as the year progresses. At minimum, update before each quarterly estimated payment deadline (April 15, June 15, September 15, January 15).

2026. All brackets, deductions, FICA rates, and retirement limits are CPI-adjusted projections based on IRS 2025 published values. The tax data is updated when official IRS publications are released each fall.

No. MultiW2 is a planning and estimation tool — not a tax advisor, CPA, or tax preparation service. All calculations are based on the data you enter and published IRS rates. We cannot guarantee accuracy for your specific situation. Consult a qualified tax professional for advice about your individual circumstances.

We update the tax engine data to reflect the new IRS publications, typically released in October–November of the prior year. Your existing calculations remain based on the tax year they were run for.