Editorial policy

Wrong numbers are the worst thing a tax calculator can publish. These are the rules we hold ourselves to.

Sources we accept

A figure goes on this site only if it comes from a primary source: a statute or session law, a regulation, an IRS form or revenue procedure, a state revenue department’s guidance or form instructions, or a labor department’s rate announcement. News stories, payroll-vendor blogs, law-firm alerts and other calculators may point us to a source, but they never are the source. When two official sources disagree — for example the federal tipped-wage table dated July 1, 2026 and Florida’s September 30 increase — we use the more specific, more recent one and say why on the page.

When a figure does not exist yet

Many tipped minimum wages are indexed to inflation and announced only weeks before they take effect, and the IRS publishes each year’s brackets in the autumn. We never project an unannounced rate. Instead, every rate carries an end date; after that date the calculator switches to an explicit “enter the official figure” mode, and an automated test begins failing 45 days before any end date that has no published successor, which forces a refresh.

Verification cadence

All figures were last verified on 2026-10-05. We re-check state tipped wages each October through January as states announce January 1 rates, and again before July 1 for the District of Columbia, Oregon and Alaska. State tax treatment is re-checked after each legislative session and whenever a state revenue department issues new guidance — especially before filing season opens in January. Federal figures are re-checked when the IRS publishes the next year’s inflation adjustments and when it revises Schedule 1-A.

Corrections

Anyone can report an error through the corrections form; the form is on every page’s footer as “Report a correction.” Reports go to a private queue that we review. A confirmed error in a rate, threshold or rule is fixed, the page’s verified date is updated, and the change is noted in the repository history with the source that settled it. If a report turns out to be correct but we cannot yet confirm it from a primary source, we mark the figure as unverified rather than leave it looking certain.

Automation and AI

This site is built and maintained with substantial help from AI software, including drafting text, writing the calculation code and fetching source documents. Automation is never the authority for a number: each figure is traced to a primary document that was read, the citation is published beside it, and the engine is covered by tests whose expected values are worked by hand from those documents. The site has no human byline because no individual reviewer signs off on it; the publisher is the Editorial Team named on the about page.

Independence

We carry no advertising, take no payment for coverage and have no affiliate relationships with tax software or payroll firms. Nothing on the site is personalized advice.