California Form 540 2EZ Tax Calculator

This calculator estimates the tax you would enter on California Form 540 2EZ, line 17, from your filing status, total income, and number of dependents. The official 2EZ tables already include the standard deduction, your personal exemption credit, and up to three dependent credits, and the calculator does the same. It uses the FTB's 2025 tables (tax year 2025, returns filed in 2026), the latest the FTB has published. It is for informational purposes only and gives an estimate; the FTB's printed table is what you actually use on the return.

To confirm that you are allowed to use the short form, read California Form 540 2EZ: who qualifies and how to file.

How to use the calculator

1. Filing status. Pick single, married/RDP filing jointly (also use this for qualifying surviving spouse/RDP), or head of household. Married/RDP filing separately cannot use Form 540 2EZ.
2. Income. Enter your line 16 total: wages from W-2 box 16 (line 9), taxable interest (line 10), dividends (line 11), taxable pensions (line 12), and mutual fund capital gain distributions from 1099-DIV box 2a (line 13).
3. Dependents. Choose 0 to 3. Each dependent is worth a $475 credit for tax year 2025.

The calculator finds your $100 row in the 2EZ table, subtracts the standard deduction from the row midpoint, applies the 2025 California brackets, subtracts the personal and dependent credits, and shows the table row, taxable income, tax before credits, line 17 tax, and your effective rate. If your income is over the 2EZ limit for your filing status, it warns you to file Form 540 instead.

What is built into the numbers

Source: the FTB's 2025 Form 540 2EZ Tax Booklet, which states these amounts at the top of each 2EZ table and lists the income limits under "Qualifying to Use Form 540 2EZ."

Joint filers and qualifying surviving spouses can use the calculator all the way up to $200,000, the same range the married 2EZ table covers. Above your limit, switch to the California income tax calculator, which follows Form 540.

Official 2025 2EZ table values at common incomes

These amounts are read directly from the FTB's 2025 2EZ tables, so you can sanity-check the calculator or skip it entirely if your income is close to one of these rows.

Each dependent column is exactly $475 lower than the one to its left until tax reaches zero, because the dependent credit is a flat dollar-for-dollar reduction.

Income levels where 2EZ tax is zero

Below these line 16 amounts the 2025 table shows $0 tax. Any California tax withheld from your paycheck comes back as a refund.

These break-even points come from the first row in each column of the 2025 tables where tax becomes positive. They are much higher than many people expect: a married couple with three children can earn up to $86,462 of wages without owing California income tax.

How the math behind the table works

The FTB builds each row by taking the midpoint of the $100 income range, subtracting the standard deduction, running the result through the tax rate schedule, and subtracting the credits. You can reproduce any row.

Example: single, $55,000, no dependents (2025)

• Taxable income: $55,000 − $5,706 = $49,294
• Bracket tax using the 2025 rate schedule: $1,022.01 on the first $41,452, plus 6% of ($49,294 − $41,452) = $1,022.01 + $470.52 = $1,492.53
• Minus the $153 personal credit: $1,492.53 − $153 = $1,339.53, which the table shows as $1,340

Example: married filing jointly, $85,000, two children (2025)

• Taxable income: $85,000 − $11,412 = $73,588
• Bracket tax: $221.58 on the first $22,158, plus 2% of ($52,528 − $22,158) = $607.40, plus 4% of ($73,588 − $52,528) = $842.40; total $1,671.38
• Credits: $306 + (2 × $475) = $1,256
• Tax: $1,671.38 − $1,256 = $415.38, which the table shows as $416

How closely the calculator matches the table

Because the calculator uses the same 2025 rate schedule, deduction, credits, and midpoint rule as the FTB, its result is the table amount, not an approximation of it. A few spot checks:

The worked examples above use your exact income rather than the row midpoint, which is why they land a few cents to a dollar away before rounding. The table and the calculator both price the whole $100 row at one amount, so any income from $54,957 to $55,056 owes the same $1,340 as a single filer with no dependents. Still copy line 17 from the FTB table, or let CalFile or tax software fill it in, when you file.

Turning the estimate into a refund or balance due

The tax figure is only half of the return. To see whether you will get money back, compare it with what your employer already withheld:

1. Find California income tax withheld in W-2 box 17 (add all W-2s together, plus 1099-R box 14 for pension withholding).
2. Subtract the senior exemption and renter's credit, if they apply, from the line 17 tax to get line 21.
3. Add any refundable credits (CalEITC, Young Child Tax Credit, Foster Youth Tax Credit) to your withholding to get total payments on line 25.
4. If payments exceed line 21 tax, the difference is your overpayment (line 32). If not, the difference is tax due (line 33).

Example: a single renter earning $40,000 whose employer withheld $900 of California tax. The 2025 table shows $583. She qualifies for the $60 renter's credit because her AGI is under $53,994, so line 21 is $583 − $60 = $523. Her refund is $900 − $523 = $377. If her withholding had been only $400, she would owe $123 by April 15, 2026.

If you see a large refund or a balance due every year, adjust your DE 4 (California withholding certificate) with your employer rather than waiting for the return.

Lines the calculator does not cover

Form 540 2EZ has a few items after line 17 that change what you owe or get back:

• Line 18, senior exemption. If you or your spouse were 65 or older by December 31, 2025, subtract $153 per person ($306 if both qualify). This is not built into the table.
• Line 19, nonrefundable renter's credit. Single filers with California AGI of $53,994 or less get $60; joint and head of household filers at $107,988 or less get $120, if they rented their California principal residence for at least half the year.
• Line 22, withholding. Add California withholding from W-2 box 17 and 1099-R box 14.
• Lines 23a–23c, refundable credits. CalEITC, the Young Child Tax Credit, and the Foster Youth Tax Credit, figured on form FTB 3514. These can produce a refund even when line 21 tax is zero.
• Line 26, use tax. You must enter an amount or check a box for out-of-state purchases on which California sales tax was not collected.

When the calculator is the wrong tool

Use Form 540 and the California income tax calculator instead if you:

• have self-employment, rental, or business income, or capital gains other than mutual fund distributions;
• want to itemize deductions or claim adjustments such as the IRA deduction or student loan interest;
• have more than three dependents, or are blind;
• are married/RDP filing separately, or were a part-year resident or nonresident;
• can be claimed as someone else's dependent and also have a dependent of your own, or have total income at or below the dependent cutoffs ($18,956 single, $37,862 joint, $26,762 head of household).

For the full bracket tables and how California compares with the federal system, see California income tax rates and brackets explained. To estimate the federal side of the same wages, use the federal tax bracket calculator or the paycheck after tax calculator.