Maintenance record

PayCalc update history

A public record of substantive calculator, source, testing, and content changes - not an automatically refreshed freshness signal.

Why this page exists

“Updated regularly” should describe real work, not a date that changes automatically. This log records material changes to calculator rules, testing, content architecture, or production monitoring. Small copy edits are not necessarily listed.

  1. Rebuilt content around original PayCalc evidence

    Consolidated overlapping short articles into three comprehensive calculator guides; added a build-generated 2026 payroll source directory and public regression matrix; strengthened authorship/process disclosure; and narrowed AdSense inventory to substantive pages.

  2. Added daily live production regression

    Configured the Playwright browser suite to run daily against the deployed paycalc.org site in addition to post-deployment checks.

  3. Expanded editorial transparency and explainers

    Added a resource library, explanatory sections, editorial standards, sitemap coverage, and stricter AdSense-readiness tests. The November 3 update later consolidated much of this material after a second low-value-content review showed page count alone was not a sufficient quality signal.

  4. Completed the 2026 U.S. payroll withholding overhaul

    Implemented the 2026 IRS Publication 15-T federal method, Social Security and Medicare thresholds, W-4 inputs, supplemental wages, and state-specific rules across all U.S. jurisdictions represented by the calculator, with official-source provenance and extensive regression tests.

  5. Hardened federal source monitoring

    Adjusted ingestion to use IRS Publication 15 as the monitored Social Security source when the SSA page blocked GitHub-hosted runners, and made monitor alerts semantic rather than snapshot-hash based.