Marginal vs. effective tax rate: How they differ and how to calculate each rate
Knowing the difference between your marginal and effective tax rate can help you manage your money better.
4 min read
Jun 10, 2025
Andrea Coombes, CFP®
Editor, Taxes
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25Years of experience
LICENSE
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
EXPERTISE
- Individual income taxes
- Tax planning and strategy
- U.S. tax policy
- Personal finance
- Investing
- Saving for retirement
EDUCATION
- University of California, Berkeley; B.A. in Sociology
- University of California, Berkeley; Master’s in Journalism
- University of California, Berkeley, Extension; Certificate in Personal Financial Planning
Andrea Coombes, a tax editor at Bankrate, translates complex personal finance topics into understandable language that helps people live their best financial lives. She’s a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and over the past 25 years has worked as a financial coach, personal finance writer and editor, and volunteer tax preparer.
Her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch and many newspapers nationwide. She's been interviewed on local and national TV and radio, including NPR's All Things Considered, CBS News, NASDAQ and Marketplace.
Andrea has moderated panels on how to invest for retirement, how to use 529 college savings plans and more, and she's an experienced personal-finance speaker who has presented to groups on a variety of topics such as how to budget, improve credit, manage debt, and build savings. She's also worked as a personal financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, helping people reach their goals. For two tax seasons, she worked a volunteer tax preparer.
Andrea beyond Bankrate
A lot of people are nervous about doing their taxes, and about managing their money in general. I'm here to say: It's not rocket science. There are small steps each of us can take to slowly start moving towards our long-term goals. We can do this, people.
— Andrea Coombes, CFP®
Andrea's latest articles
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The Lifetime Learning Credit: How it works, income limits, and more
At tax time, the Lifetime Learning Credit can help you save money on education costs.
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10 key tax terms to help you cut through the jargon
Knowing these 10 key tax terms can help make it easier to do your taxes.
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All of the federal tax forms, publications, schedules, and instructions you need to do your taxes
We’ve compiled links to all of the IRS tax forms, publications, schedules, and instructions you need to file your taxes, including Form 1040 and many more.
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Some taxpayers to get $1,400 payments for unclaimed stimulus tax credit
The IRS will send an estimated $2.4 billion to taxpayers who didn’t claim the recovery rebate credit on their 2021 tax returns. About 1 million taxpayers were eligible for the credit but failed to claim [...]
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Medical expense deduction: How to claim medical costs on your taxes
You may be able to deduct certain medical expenses if they meet IRS requirements.
3 min read Dec 21, 2024 -
How long to keep tax returns and other IRS records
In many cases, keeping tax records for three years is sufficient, but there are exceptions.
3 min read Dec 20, 2024 -
7 tips to prepare for next year’s taxes now
Now’s the time to start preparing for the upcoming tax filing season. Here are 7 tips to get you on track.
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TaxSlayer review 2025 (tax year 2024)
TaxSlayer offers low-cost tax software, even for people with complex tax situations.
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