Excel Sheet to Project Take-home Pay

[Winter's Tale]

Hi all,

I am looking for an Excel sheet to help me project how different tax withholding, retirement contributions, and other pre- and post-tax deductions (health insurance, flexible spending account, 401(k), W-4 withholdings, etc. would affect my take home pay.  A few helpful folks directed me to the links below.  These were helpful but what would be especially beneficial is an Excel sheet where I can more easily see and manipulate the variables.  I want to learn how to be more strategic in terms of maximizing savings and minimizing taxes.  Does anyone have anything like this to share? Thanks in advance.


http://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/
http://apps.irs.gov/app/withholdingcalculator/

[GGNoob]

This is what I use: http://www.adp.com/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/payroll-calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx

Works great. I play around with current paycheck settings to make sure it returns the correct number, then adjust my 401k contributions to estimate take home pay.

[lauren_knows]

Over the years, I've used http://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/ with great success.

[vislove1]

I've copied and pasted my Excel calculation into a Google doc for you to try:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fTe3xhrHpD0h86OaCVPmVzVM4MXfw-yFF-_FCF8TA1s/edit?usp=sharing

Just plug in your figures where the numbers are bolded in red.  Let me know if anything doesn't work or if you have questions.

[MDM]

See also http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-to-write-a-'case-study'-topic/msg274228/#msg274228 and the spreadsheet linked there.  It has a simplified (but accurate within those simplifications) tax calculation for the amount you should withhold, based on things like the ones mentioned in the OP.

[BooksAreNerdy]

This is what I use: http://www.adp.com/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/payroll-calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx

Works great. I play around with current paycheck settings to make sure it returns the correct number, then adjust my 401k contributions to estimate take home pay.

+1

[dcheesi]

This is what I use: http://www.adp.com/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/payroll-calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx

Works great. I play around with current paycheck settings to make sure it returns the correct number, then adjust my 401k contributions to estimate take home pay.

What's scary is that I can't replicate my ADP paycheck using the ADP calculator! It appears that the way one benefit item is represented on my pay check doesn't line up with how the calculator thinks it should work.

EDIT: I think I finally figured it out. My 401k withholding is set by % of gross pay; however, there is an additional employer-paid benefit that's taxable, so they add that amount to the gross pay on my statement, and then subtract it again later on. The problem is that this is not factored into the 401k %, so when I try to fix the FICA numbers by including the "phantom" benefit pay, it throws off the 401k amount in the calculator. It all works if I use the actual dollar amount for the 401k withholding, but that defeats the purpose somewhat if the goal is to play what-if with the 401k withholding percentage...