RSU Tax Shock CalculatorEnter your vest schedule. See the bill before April.

Twenty-two percent is an optional federal withholding method for separately identified supplemental wages at or below $1 million. It is not the final tax rate. If your RSU income lands in the 24%, 32%, 35%, or 37% bracket, the return can calculate more tax than payroll withheld. Employers may also use an aggregate payroll method, so use the per-vest override when you know the actual federal withholding.

Enter your best estimate of 2026 ordinary taxable income before adding these RSU wages. That is household income after deductions, not gross salary. The sample uses $250,000 of income less the $16,100 single standard deduction, or $233,900. Using taxable income lets the tool stack each vest into the correct federal brackets without pretending to calculate every deduction and credit on your return.

Social Security and regular Medicare are generally withheld when the RSUs become wages, so they reduce what reaches you but usually do not create the later income-tax gap. The headline compares incremental regular federal income tax plus any Additional Medicare mismatch with the amounts payroll is expected to withhold for those items.

Not when basis is reported correctly. The amount included in W-2 wages generally becomes the stock basis. A later sale produces capital gain or loss only on the price movement after settlement. Verify the basis shown by the broker before filing, because a missing or zero basis can overstate gain.

No. It estimates the incremental federal filing impact of the entered RSUs. Your full return also depends on regular paycheck withholding, a spouse’s withholding, credits, itemized deductions, investment income, estimated payments, AMT, state tax, and other facts this focused calculator does not model.