Editorial Standards

Primary government sources are preferred. Federal rules come from IRS publications — for example Publication 15-T for federal withholding and Publication 15 for employer payroll taxes. State and local rules come from the relevant state or city revenue agency publications. Secondary sources may be consulted for context, but a rule is not implemented until it is confirmed against a primary source.

Tax rules are versioned by tax year and by jurisdiction. Each calculator displays a visible “Last updated” date so you can see which tax year the rules reflect. When an official schedule for a new year has not yet been published or verified, the page says so rather than guessing.

Every calculation module is covered by automated unit tests that run before any change ships. Tests include worked examples computed from the official source schedules, boundary cases at wage-base caps, and invalid or extreme inputs. A change that breaks any existing test does not ship.

Before a page is published, its figures, rates and worked examples are checked against the cited sources. Pages link to the primary documents they rely on so you can verify the numbers yourself.

If you find a discrepancy, report it through the Contact page. The most useful reports include your inputs, the figure shown, the figure you expected, and the official publication you are comparing against. Verified corrections are prioritized over new features, and the affected page’s “Last updated” date is revised when a fix ships.

Calculator formulas and results are derived from official sources and nothing else. If PaycheckVista ever carries advertising or affiliate relationships, they must not influence calculator formulas, results, or editorial content.