Dealing with Washington D.C. is a lot like The Godfather, Part III:

As expected, the IRS scrambled on 3 January 2013 to supersede and replace the withholding instructions it had previously issued on 31 December 2012, which we immortalized in the Part 2 version of our 2013 paycheck tool.

That makes our tool "Your Paycheck in 2013: Part 3" the final version of our 2013 paycheck estimating tool, at least until the politicians in Washington D.C. start monkeying with the tax code. Again. For now however, it would appear that President George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts have been made permanent for all those taxpaying households earning less than $400,000 (or $450,000 for couples filing jointly), as President Obama and Democratic party leaders succeeded in their goal of imposing higher income tax rates upon the top 0.5% of individual income earners and the top 0.3% of families or households.

You know the drill by now for how to use our tool to estimate how big your paycheck will be in 2013 after Uncle Sam has gotten his dirty ape paws all over it - here's the Part 3 version of our tool!

Previously on Political Calculations

We've been in the business of calculating people's paychecks (not including state income tax withholding) since 2005!

• Your 2005 Paycheck
• Your 2006 Paycheck
• Your 2007 Paycheck
• Your 2008 Paycheck
• Your 2009 Paycheck
• Your Paycheck in 2010
• Your Paycheck in 2011
• Your Paycheck in 2012
• Your Paycheck in 2013: Part 1 - the "same as 2012" version.
• Your Paycheck in 2013: Part 2 - the "over the fiscal cliff" version.
• Your Paycheck in 2013: Part 3 - the "fiscal cliff deal" version.

Note that for 2013, your employer might be using any one of these three versions before 15 February 2013, after which Part 3 is supposed to take over for the rest of the year.

Beyond Your Paycheck

Before we forget, your employer pays a lot more to keep you on the payroll than just your paycheck! Our tool below estimates just how much it cost them to employ you in 2011-12!

• How Much Does It Really Cost to Employ You? (2011-12 Edition)

And you should also be aware that the employer's portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes (aka "FICA" taxes) have replaced corporate income taxes almost dollar-for-dollar over the years. Don't let anybody pull the "U.S. corporations aren't paying a fair share of taxes" line with you - they're really paying almost exactly the same share of all U.S. taxes that they have been for the last several decades!