Dividend Tax Calculator
Calculate federal tax on qualified and ordinary dividends by filing status.
Includes NIIT (Net Investment Income Tax) and your effective dividend tax rate.
Changing your currency elsewhere on the site will not affect this page.
Two Types of Dividends
Qualified Dividends Dividends from U.S. corporations or qualifying foreign corporations, held for more than 60 days during the 121-day period around the ex-dividend date. Taxed at the favorable long-term capital gains rates: 0%, 15%, or 20%.
Ordinary (Non-Qualified) Dividends Everything else: REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) distributions, money market funds, and anything you held too briefly. Taxed at your regular income tax rates, 10% up to 37%.
That gap is the whole game. On the same $10,000 of dividends, a household in the 24% bracket pays $1,500 if the dividends are qualified and $2,400 if they are not. Nothing about the money changed, only how long the shares were held and what issued them.
Qualified Dividend Tax Rates
| Rate | Single | Married Filing Jointly |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0 – $49,450 | $0 – $98,900 |
| 15% | $49,451 – $545,500 | $98,901 – $613,700 |
| 20% | Over $545,500 | Over $613,700 |
Your taxable income, dividends included, determines which bracket applies. The dollar thresholds shown are the 2026 figures, which is what the calculator uses. They are adjusted for inflation every year, so check irs.gov for the current ones before filing. The rates themselves (0, 15, 20) have been stable for years.
Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)
An additional 3.8% applies to investment income once your MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income) exceeds:
- Single or Head of Household: $200,000
- Married Filing Jointly: $250,000
- Married Filing Separately: $125,000
NIIT hits the lesser of two things: your net investment income, or the amount by which your MAGI clears the threshold. Unlike the brackets above, these three thresholds are written into the statute and are not inflation-adjusted, so more households drift into NIIT every year without their real income changing.
Ordinary Income Tax Brackets (Single, 2026)
| Income | Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 – $12,400 | 10% |
| $12,401 – $50,400 | 12% |
| $50,401 – $105,700 | 22% |
| $105,701 – $201,775 | 24% |
| $191,951 – $243,725 | 32% |
| $256,226 – $640,600 | 35% |
| Over $640,600 | 37% |
Two things this calculator does not do: state dividend tax, and the distinction between taxable income and MAGI. It treats the income figure you enter as both, which is close enough for planning but not for filing.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
SuperGlobalCalculator is independently built and maintained. See how we build and verify our calculators.