2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets: IRS Marginal Tax Rates

The 2011 tax year promises to be one where there will be some significant changes to the marginal tax brackets. What those changes exactly will be still remains to be seen.

There seems to be a couple of scenarios that people think are more likely to happen.

• The 2001 Bush tax cuts could be allowed to expire.  If they aren’t renewed there will be a tax increase for all the tax brackets (yes, ALL TAXPAYERS got a tax cut from the Bush tax cuts, not just the rich)
• They could renew the tax cuts for those making less than $250,000, and allow them to expire for the high income earners as was proposed in the 2010 budget.

Of course they could do something different than both of these options as well, but we’ll just have to wait and see what they decide to do.

There have already been a variety of groups who have put out tax rate projections to show us what they believe the tax rates will look like in 2011.  Here are the 2011 federal income tax bracket projections from the Tax Policy Center:

Tax Bracket	Single	Married Filing Jointly
10% Bracket	$0 – $8,425	$0 – $16,850
15% Bracket	$8,426 – $34,200	$16,851 – $68,400
25% Bracket	$34,201 – $82,850	$68,401 – $138,050
28% Bracket	$82,851 – $192,000	$138,051 – $232,950
36% Bracket	$192,001 – $375,700	$232,951 – $375,700
39.6% Bracket	$375,700+	$375,700+

By way of comparison, here is the 2010 tax brackets:

Tax Bracket	Single	Married Filing Jointly
10% Bracket	$0 – $8,375	$0 – $16,750
15% Bracket	$8,375 – $34,000	$16,750 – $68,000
25% Bracket	$34,000 – $82,400	$68,000 – $137,300
28% Bracket	$82,400 – $171,850	$137,300 – $209,250
33% Bracket	$171,850 – $373,650	$209,250 – $373,650
35% Bracket	$373,650+	$373,650+

So according to this projection, the tax rates will be increasing mainly for those who are making 192,000 dollars or more.

• Reinstate 39.6 percent rate in 2011
• Increase the 33 percent tax rate to 36 percent and change the thresholds for that tax bracket in 2011.

UPDATE:  The Bush era tax cuts have been extended for 2 years, and the tax brackets for 2011 will essentially remain unchanged except for some changes to the bracket ranges due to inflation, and minor changes in standard deduction levels.  The final 2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets appear below.

2011 Tax Brackets	Single	Married Filing Jointly
10% Bracket	$0 – $8,500	$0 – $17,000
15% Bracket	$8,500 – $34,500	$17,000 – $69,000
25% Bracket	$34,500 – $83,600	$69,000 – $139,500
28% Bracket	$83,600 – $174,400	$139,500 – $212,300
33% Bracket	$174,400 – $379,150	$212,300 – $379,150
35% Bracket	$379,150+	$379,150+

What are your thoughts on the changes to the 2011 tax brackets? Tell us your thoughts in the comments

Originally published at biblemoneymatters.com.