<prompt> Human: Situation: I currently make 93K Oct 1 2013 Sep 29 2014 and am scheduled to receive 104.6K starting on Oct 1 2014. What would be my base salary for tax purposes for 2014?While doing some research online I found the tax brackets for 2014 I am trying to fall into the 25 tax bracket by making tax deductible contributions to my 401K account starting from my next pay cycle bimonthly in October. Even if I contribute the max amount 30 for the next 3 months, I will only reduce by taxable income by 7845, effective still landing up in the 28 tax bracket if my base salary for tax purposes is consider 104.6K. But if its considered a combination of 93K and 104K, I may still have a chance. Also, are there any other investments I could make to reduce my taxable income? Thank you!!!  <response>: All that matters for income tax purposes is what you were paid in 2014, not what your base salary was at any one point during the year. However, this seems to be besides the point for what youre worried about.Tax brackets are marginal tax rates in the US. So going up in a tax bracket only means that the amount you make over the cutoff of the previous bracket in your example the 7845 dollars is taxed at that higher rate. That means theres no real way you can game it, its just the extra money that will be taxed at the slightly higher 28 rate 