Engine transparency

Methodology

Ormalin’s projection engine is built from publicly documented tax tables, Social Security rules, IRS regulations, and CMS Medicare schedules. This page lists every constant and assumption with its source so you can audit any number the app shows you. The tables that drive the largest numbers are pinned by automated accuracy checks, listed below, so they cannot change unnoticed.

Test coverage:31 automated accuracy checks pin the engine’s RMD divisor table (9), Social Security bend points (5), federal tax tables (8, including the tax owed at every bracket boundary for all four filing statuses, checked against the amounts printed in IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), Social Security taxation thresholds (3), and Medicare IRMAA tiers and Part B premium (6). Everything else on this page, including state tax, estate and HSA figures, the Monte Carlo and the planning assumptions, is covered by ordinary unit tests and is not independently cross-checked.

2026 Federal Income Tax

Standard deduction
IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.14
Single $16,100 · MFJ $32,200 · HOH $24,150 · MFS $16,100
Additional standard deduction (age 65+)
IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.14(3)
$1,650 per person if married · $2,050 if unmarried; each spouse 65+ counts on a joint return
Senior deduction (age 65+)
P.L. 119-21; IRS Schedule 1-A (Form 1040), Part V
$6,000 per eligible person, reduced by 6% of AGI above $75,000 ($150,000 joint), applied to each spouse; tax years 2025–2028 only, so projections drop it after 2028; not available married filing separately
Ordinary brackets
IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.01 (Tables 1–4)
Top of the 10 / 12 / 22 / 24 / 32 / 35% brackets — Single: $12,400 · $50,400 · $105,700 · $201,775 · $256,225 · $640,600. MFJ: $24,800 · $100,800 · $211,400 · $403,550 · $512,450 · $768,700. Head of household and married-filing-separately tables are applied from the same procedure.
Long-term capital gains brackets
IRC §1(h); IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.03
0% up to $49,450 single / $98,900 MFJ; 15% up to $545,500 single / $613,700 MFJ; 20% above (stacked on top of ordinary income)
Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)
IRC §1411
3.8% above $200k single / $250k MFJ MAGI
Additional Medicare tax
IRC §3101(b)(2)
0.9% on wages above $200k single / $250k MFJ
Child Tax Credit
IRC §24 as amended by P.L. 119-21; IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, §4.05; phase-out begins $200k single / $400k MFJ
$2,200 per qualifying child under 17 (the refundable portion is not modeled)
Credit for Other Dependents
IRC §24(h)(4)
$500 per other dependent

Social Security

2026 PIA bend points
SSA PIA formula · ssa.gov/oact/cola/piaformula.html
$1,286 · $7,749 (monthly AIME)
PIA formula
42 U.S.C. §415
90% to first bend, 32% between, 15% above
2026 wage base
SSA Contribution and Benefit Base
$184,500 (max AIME indexable)
Career-average factor
Ormalin-estimated; full earnings-record AIME planned in a future phase
0.8 applied to current income for AIME approximation
Full Retirement Age (FRA)
Social Security Amendments of 1983
67 for anyone born ≥ 1960
Earnings test (before FRA year)
SSA Cost-of-Living Adjustment 2026
$24,480 limit (2026); $1 withheld per $2 above
Taxation thresholds
IRS Publication 915
Single $25k/$34k · MFJ $32k/$44k provisional income

Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)

RMD start age
SECURE Act 2.0, codified at IRC §401(a)(9)
73 (born 1951-1959) · 75 (born ≥ 1960)
Distribution-period table
IRS Pub 590-B, Appendix B, Table III
IRS Uniform Lifetime Table — full divisor lookup ages 72-110
Sample divisors
IRS Pub 590-B
73 → 26.5 · 75 → 24.6 · 80 → 20.2 · 85 → 16.0 · 90 → 12.2
QCD limit
IRC §408(d)(8), SECURE 2.0 indexing
$108,000 for 2026

Medicare IRMAA (2026)

Part B base premium
CMS Premium & Cost Sharing tables, 2026
$202.90/month (tier 1)
Tier 1 ceiling
CMS IRMAA tables, 2026
Single MAGI $109,000 · MFJ $218,000
Tier 2 Part B
CMS
$284.10/mo · Part D surcharge +$14.50
Tier 3 Part B
CMS
$405.80/mo · MFJ band $274k-$342k
MAGI lookback
42 U.S.C. §1395r(i)
Two-year lookback (e.g., 2026 IRMAA uses 2024 MAGI)

State income tax

Methodology
State Department of Revenue publications, current as of 2026
Flat-rate lookup by state, including states with no income tax (AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, WY)
States with progressive brackets
Ormalin simplification; full bracket modeling planned
Approximated as effective flat rate at typical retiree income

Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

2026 contribution limit
IRC §223, 2026 inflation-adjusted
Self-only $4,400 · Family $8,750 (+$1,000 if 55+)
Stealth-IRA treatment
IRC §223(f)(4)
At age 65, non-medical withdrawals taxed as ordinary income with no penalty

Estate planning (2026)

Federal estate / gift exemption
IRC §2010, 2026 inflation-adjusted
$15M individual · $30M MFJ (portability available)
Annual gift exclusion
IRC §2503(b), 2026 inflation-adjusted
$19,000 per recipient
529 5-year front-load
IRC §529(c)(2)(B)
$95,000 per beneficiary (5 × annual exclusion)
States with estate / inheritance tax
State Department of Revenue publications
CT, DC, IL, MA, MD, ME, MN, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA

Monte Carlo simulation

Trials
Ormalin default; planned upgrade to 5,000 in a server-side worker
2,000 per projection (configurable)
Return distribution
Industry-standard balanced-portfolio assumption matching eMoney / MGP defaults
Normal — mean 5% real return, σ 12% (balanced portfolio)
Inflation default
Federal Reserve Open Market Committee
2.5% (the Fed's long-run target)
Real return default
Industry convention for a 60/40 balanced portfolio
5% (overrideable via Playzone)
Pseudorandom generator
Deterministic by design — same inputs always produce the same projection
Mulberry32, seeded for reproducibility · Box-Muller normal sampling

Planning assumptions

Taxable-account yield
Ormalin assumption
2% of the taxable balance, taxed as ordinary income, reinvested (not spent)
Gain on taxable withdrawals
Ormalin simplification
50% of each withdrawal treated as long-term gain
Withdrawal order
Ormalin default; adjustable in the Playzone
Taxable → tax-deferred → Roth, sized so net cash after tax and Medicare meets spending
Cash beyond spending
Ormalin engine
Reinvested in the taxable account (for example, RMDs larger than needed)
Social Security claim age
Social Security Amendments of 1983; SSA early/delayed retirement rules
Benefit at full retirement age adjusted by claim age: reduced when early, +8% a year to 70
Medicare premiums for couples
CMS Medicare Part B; Ormalin engine
Charged per person from age 65: a spouse's premiums start on the spouse's 65th birthday, at the same IRMAA tier
Retired households
Ormalin engine
Modeled as retired today; the retirement-age lever does not apply
Roth strategy shown first
Ormalin engine
The strategy with the highest after-tax portfolio at age 90; if another is within 10% (or $20K) of it, the more conservative one is shown. If none beats not converting, the planner says so
Roth lifetime impact
Ormalin assumption
Leftover IRA valued at your projected marginal rate; for heirs at 24%; taxable at 95% of face

Plan Vitals (headline numbers)

Funded Ratio
Wade Pfau methodology; 25× is the inverse of the 4% safe withdrawal convention
Projected balance at retirement ÷ (annual spending × 25)
Years to Depletion
Ormalin engine
First year shortfall > 0 in the deterministic engine stream; null when Monte Carlo success > 95%
Safe Spending
Bengen 1994; Trinity Study 1998
(Balance at retirement × 4%) + Social Security benefit
Marginal Rate range
Ormalin engine
Min/max federal ordinary marginal rate across the next 5 projected years

How to verify any number Ormalin shows you

  1. Open the source linked in the table above for the constant or formula you want to verify.
  2. Compare it with the value shown here. Areas covered by an accuracy check are listed in the test coverage note above.
  3. If you find a discrepancy with the underlying source, tell us through the contact route in our privacy policy and we will correct it.

Last updated: October 2026. Constants are reviewed at year-end when the IRS, SSA, and CMS publish the following year’s adjustments.