One engine, no second set of numbers
The most common way a calculator site becomes wrong is drift: the tool is updated, the hand-written tables and article copy around it are not, and the two quietly disagree for months. SalarySolve structurally cannot drift. The tax engine that runs in your browser is the same engine that generates every table, every pay-stub panel, and every figure in the explanatory text. There is no second set of numbers to fall out of date.
What runs before anything is published
Each build runs a battery of automated gates. A failure blocks publication rather than raising a warning:
- Engine parity. A Python mirror of the tax engine is compared against the live JavaScript across thousands of scenarios — every exact-rate state, all three filing statuses, a range of salaries, and pre-tax contribution levels. Tolerance is one cent.
- Rendered-output parity. Beyond the raw arithmetic, the actual rendered strings on each page — every row of every pay-stub panel, formatted currency and percentages included — are compared against what the browser engine would produce.
- Link integrity. Every internal link must resolve, and every page must be reachable from elsewhere on the site.
- Metadata and structured data. Titles and descriptions must be unique and within length; all structured data must parse; FAQ markup must match the visible text on the page exactly.
- Accessibility. Figure text must remain legible at mobile widths, colour contrast must meet WCAG AA, and heading levels must not skip.
Human review. SalarySolve does not currently carry a named editorial reviewer, and we would rather say so than imply one. What the site does guarantee is mechanical: every published figure is generated by the same audited engine and checked against it on every build. Sourcing decisions and the simplifications we apply are documented in full on the sources page so a reader can audit them directly rather than take our word for it.
Honest freshness dates
Each page reports the date its figures were last verified. That date is derived from a content hash: it advances when the page’s substance actually changes and stays put when it doesn’t. Many sites stamp every page with the current date on every deploy, which makes “last updated” meaningless. Ours means what it says.
Privacy is structural, not a promise
Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted, logged, or stored, and there is no analytics script reading your inputs. The site loads no third-party fonts, scripts, or trackers from other domains. This is verifiable rather than promotional — open the page source and check.
Corrections log
Material corrections to published figures are recorded here with the date and what changed.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Initial publication of tax year 2026 figures, sourced from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the SSA 2026 COLA fact sheet. |
No corrections to published rates have been required to date. If that changes, it will be recorded above rather than quietly amended.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know the figures on this site are accurate?
Every published figure is generated by the same tax engine that powers the interactive calculator, and an automated gate compares the two on every build with a one-cent tolerance. If they disagree, the build fails and nothing is published. The underlying rates are traced to IRS and SSA publications, listed with direct links on the sources page.
Does a person check these numbers?
SalarySolve does not currently have a named editorial reviewer, and we state that plainly rather than implying otherwise. The accuracy guarantee the site does make is mechanical: one audited engine generates everything, and automated parity checks block publication on any disagreement. Every sourcing decision and simplification is documented publicly so you can audit our reasoning rather than trust an assertion.
What happens if you find an error?
It is fixed at the source — in the engine or the rate data — so the calculator and every page derived from it update together in the same build. Material corrections to published rates are recorded in the corrections log on this page.
Why should I trust this over a bigger site?
Judge it on what you can verify rather than on size. The figures cite their sources with direct links, the estimates are labelled as estimates, the freshness dates are honest, and the privacy claim can be confirmed by viewing the page source. Larger sites are welcome to publish the same, and some do not.