How BreadTruth calculates take-home pay

What the calculator does

You give it a gross contract value, a league and a team. It applies that market's tax system and that league's deductions, and returns a line-by-line breakdown. US salaries are taxed progressively, exactly as the IRS does it — not with a single flat rate.

Two deliberate simplifications

State tax uses the top marginal rate on the whole salary. Real state bills are progressive, so this overstates the state tax and therefore understates your take-home. We chose the conservative direction on purpose. The error is largest for states with a high top rate and a low threshold, like California and New Jersey.

Canadian clubs use the combined federal + provincial rate as a single figure. A US player in Toronto pays the Canadian bill; modelling it as US federal plus a provincial slice would understate it by roughly five points.

What is not modelled

• Itemised deductions and state-specific credits
• 401(k), deferred compensation, and signing bonuses allocated across seasons
• Endorsement and image-rights income
• The US return a player still files while working abroad
• NHL escrow, which is negotiated season by season rather than fixed

Data sources

• Data edition: 2026.11 · last reviewed October 2026. Every rate below is stored in one table (TAX_2026) so it can be revised in a single place each year.
• US federal income tax: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (tax year 2026), applied progressively 10%→37% with the $16,100 single standard deduction. The 37% rate starts at $640,600.
• US state income tax: Tax Foundation, State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets 2026 (published 17 February 2026). The state's top marginal rate is applied to the whole salary — deliberately conservative, since real state bills are progressive. Rates run 0% (TX, FL, TN, NV, WA) to 13.3% (CA).
• 2026 state revisions in this edition: Iowa 8.53%→3.80%, Nebraska 6.64%→4.55%, Louisiana 4.25%→3.00%, Arkansas 4.90%→3.90%, Mississippi 5.00%→4.00%, Kentucky 4.50%→3.50%, Ohio 3.50%→2.75%, Georgia 5.75%→5.19%, North Carolina 4.50%→3.99%, South Carolina 6.40%→6.00%, Missouri 4.95%→4.70%, Oklahoma 4.75%→4.50%, Utah 4.65%→4.50%, Kansas 5.70%→5.58%, Indiana 3.05%→2.95%, Maryland 5.75%→6.50%, Washington DC 9.90%→10.75%.
• Washington State: 0% on wage income. The 9% figure you see quoted is the capital gains excise tax on high earners, not a salary tax. The 9.9% millionaire tax starts in 2028 and only above $1M.
• Canada: combined federal + provincial top marginal rate — Ontario 53.53%, Quebec 53.31%, British Columbia 53.50%, Manitoba 50.40%, Alberta 48.00%. Source: PwC Tax Facts and Figures 2026; BDO top marginal rates. A Canadian club is not taxed as a US salary plus a provincial slice, which is how earlier versions of this tool modelled it.
• FICA / self-employment: 2.35% Medicare for contracted players already past the wage base; 15.3% self-employment tax for NIL earners (IRC 3101 and 1402).
• Agent commission: union caps — NBPA 4%, NFLPA 3%, MLBPA 5%, NHLPA 5%. Football is typically 5-10%. IPL has no cap and is estimated at 7%.
• League escrow: NBA CBA Article IV Section 8, 10% withheld. NHL escrow is not modelled here because the rate is negotiated season by season.
• Jock tax: non-resident duty-day allocation, estimated at 2% for professionals and 1% for NCAA. Not modelled for IPL, non-US leagues or Canadian clubs.
• Premier League (UK): 47% — 45% additional rate plus 2% National Insurance. Source: HMRC.
• La Liga (Spain): 47% — 24.5% state plus 22.5% regional at the top bracket. Regional rates differ; Catalonia and Valencia levy more.
• Bundesliga (Germany): 47.475% — 45% Reichensteuer plus 5.5% solidarity surcharge. Source: German Federal Ministry of Finance.
• Serie A (Italy): 46.5% — 43% IRPEF above EUR 50,000 plus roughly 3.5% regional and municipal surcharges. The Growth Decree relief for new arrivals has been repealed.
• Ligue 1 (France): 54.7% — 45% top rate plus 9.7% CSG/CRDS social charges. Source: service-public.gouv.fr.
• Primeira Liga (Portugal): 53% — 48% top rate plus 5% solidarity surcharge. Source: Autoridade Tributaria.
• Süper Lig (Turkey): 40% top bracket. Source: Turkish Revenue Administration.
• Eredivisie (Netherlands): 49.5% top bracket. Source: Belastingdienst.
• Saudi Pro League: 0% personal income tax. Source: ZATCA.
• IPL (India): 39% effective — 30% base rate plus 25% surcharge plus 4% cess for resident players at the top. Overseas players instead pay Section 115BBA withholding of 20% plus surcharge and cess, roughly 22-23%. Overseas players are capped at INR 18 crore, with the excess going to the BCCI player welfare fund.
• 2026-27 league figures: NBA salary cap $164.961M (NBA Communications, 2026); NFL cap $301.2M; NHL upper limit $104.0M with a $76.9M floor and $90.4M midpoint (NHL and NHLPA, 6 May 2026); MLB has no cap and its CBA expires 1 December 2026.
• What we do not model: itemised deductions, state credits, 401(k) and deferred compensation, signing-bonus allocation across seasons, endorsement income, and the US return a player still files while working abroad.

How updates work

All rates live in one data file with a version number. When a league publishes a new cap or a tax authority revises a bracket, the version is bumped and every page that depends on it is regenerated. The edition shown at the bottom of each page tells you which vintage you are reading.

Every edition is frozen when it is replaced, so a figure quoted in the past can still be checked: see the 2026 edition archive. The raw JSON is published alongside it.

Found something wrong? Email us with the source and we will correct it and note the change.