Tax Computation Worksheet, Line 16 (2025)

What is the Tax Computation Worksheet?

The Tax Computation Worksheet is not a separate IRS form. It is printed in the Instructions for Form 1040, right after the Tax Table, in the instructions for line 16 (Tax); the same worksheet appears, split over two pages, in the separate Tax Table booklet. The blank above is the one-page version from the 2025 Instructions for Form 1040, used with 2025 returns.

The worksheet replaces the Tax Table for higher incomes: if your taxable income on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 15, is $100,000 or more, you figure the tax for line 16 here; if it is less than $100,000, you must use the Tax Table instead. Both rules give way to the other tax computation methods listed below when one of them applies to you.

Who uses this worksheet

Use it when your taxable income is $100,000 or more, unless one of the other tax computation methods applies to you instead: Form 8615, the Schedule D Tax Worksheet, the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet, Schedule J, or the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet (if you are filing Form 2555). The line 16 instructions say which method applies.

Some of those methods send an amount back to this worksheet. In that case, enter the amount from that form or worksheet in column (a) of the row that applies to it, and enter the result on the appropriate line of that form or worksheet, not on line 16.

How to fill out the worksheet

1. Choose the section for the filing status required for this calculation: A Single; B Married filing jointly or Qualifying surviving spouse; C Married filing separately; D Head of household. For a direct Form 1040 or 1040-SR calculation, use your filing status. If another form or worksheet sent you here, use the filing status its instructions require (Form 8615, line 9, for example, uses the parent's filing status).
2. Find the row of your section that covers your taxable income (Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 15) and enter that amount in column (a). If another form or worksheet sent you here, use the amount it tells you to look up instead.
3. Multiply column (a) by the multiplication amount in column (b) and enter the result in column (c).
4. Subtract the subtraction amount in column (d) from column (c). The result is the tax on that amount: enter it on the entry space on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 16, or on the line of the form or worksheet that sent you here.

Only one row is completed per calculation. Use the worksheet for the tax year of the calculation (the year of the return, or the year the referring form requires); do not substitute a worksheet for a different year.