Editorial policy

What counts as a source

Statutes and the Internal Revenue Code; IRS revenue procedures, forms and instructions; state tax laws, forms, instructions and withholding guides; the game rules and claim pages of the lotteries. News articles, ticket couriers, gambling sites and other calculators are read to learn what people ask and where they go wrong, never as the source of a figure.

How a figure reaches a page

No rate or amount is typed into the text. The rules read on each official page are stored with their address and reading date, a script writes one parameter file from them, and the calculators and pages read that file. Hand computations from the federal schedule and the annuity rule are automated tests: if a figure is mistyped, the site does not build.

Uncertain points

When an official text is silent or a 2026 figure is not yet published, the page says so instead of guessing. Examples in this edition: California's 2026 brackets are not published, and its own estimated tax form tells filers to use the 2025 schedule, which we apply and name; Rhode Island's lottery withholding rule gives a formula but no published percentage, so no Rhode Island withholding is shown; New York's lottery publication does not print its withholding percentage, so the page gives the rule (the highest rate of the year) with the rate it implies.

Independence

Radif Partners receives nothing from lotteries, ticket couriers, casinos, sportsbooks, annuity buyers, preparers or advisers, and links to none of them. There is no form and no lead is collected. There is no advertising today; if some is added it will be labeled, limited to three places a page, and never come from gambling operators.

Review and corrections

The site is reviewed at least every 12 months, when the IRS publishes the next year's brackets (usually in October or November), and when a state changes its rate. A reported error is checked against the source and, once fixed, moves the date shown on the page. Write through the contact page; the calculations are explained on the method page.