Paycheck calculators · Virginia · Tax year 2026
Virginia Paycheck Calculator: 2026 Take-Home Pay, Estimated
Virginia withholds by one formula for every employee: your annualized wages, minus $8,750, minus $930 for each personal and dependent exemption on your Form VA-4, minus $800 for each age or blindness exemption, are taxed at 2 percent up to $3,000, 3 percent up to $5,000, 5 percent up to $17,000, and 5.75 percent above that. Note the $8,750: the withholding formula subtracts the same amount whatever your filing status, which the Department of Taxation's own worked example confirms, so your status changes your federal line on this page but not your Virginia line. Enter your pay and this calculator estimates your 2026 take-home pay, federal tax and FICA included, with an optional view of the new 2026 tips and overtime deductions.
Last reviewed: November 4, 2026.
The 2026 Virginia numbers
| Withholding formula | Virginia Department of Taxation, Withholding Tables for Wages Paid after July 1, 2025: annualized wages, minus $8,750, minus $930 per personal or dependent exemption, minus $800 per age 65 or older or blindness exemption, then the rate schedule below |
|---|---|
| The $8,750 deduction | Subtracted for every employee, single or married. The $17,500 joint standard deduction you may have seen is a figure for the Virginia tax return, not a withholding input; the difference is settled when you file. |
| Rates | 2 percent to $3,000 of taxable wages; $60 plus 3 percent to $5,000; $120 plus 5 percent to $17,000; $720 plus 5.75 percent above $17,000 |
| After 2026 | The $8,750 amount is scheduled to revert to $3,000 after tax year 2026 under current law, so the figures on this page are 2026 figures. |
| Federal withholding | IRS Publication 15-T for 2026, Worksheet 1A percentage method |
| Social Security and Medicare | 6.2 percent up to $184,500 of wages; 1.45 percent on all wages; an extra 0.9 percent Medicare withholding over $200,000 (IRS Topic No. 751; Social Security Administration) |
The Virginia rate schedule (yearly taxable wages, after the deduction and exemptions)
| Over | But not over | Tax | Plus rate on the excess |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | $3,000 | $0 | 2% |
| $3,000 | $5,000 | $60 | 3% |
| $5,000 | $17,000 | $120 | 5% |
| $17,000 | and over | $720 | 5.75% |
Checked against IRS sources · Reviewed November 4, 2026
The paycheck calculator
How this estimate is calculated
Federal income tax follows Worksheet 1A of IRS Publication 15-T for 2026, the worksheet employer payroll systems use for the automated percentage method. Your pay is annualized, your Form W-4 entries are applied, including the adjustment that applies when the Step 2 box is not checked ($12,900 on a joint return, $8,600 otherwise), and the 2026 percentage method table for your filing status gives the withholding. This calculator assumes a current Form W-4, the version in use since 2020.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA) are withheld at 6.2 percent of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, and 1.45 percent of all wages for Medicare, with an extra 0.9 percent Medicare withholding on wages over $200,000 in the year, as IRS Topic No. 751 sets out. Tips count as wages for FICA.
Virginia tax follows the Department of Taxation's formula in its withholding tables for wages paid after July 1, 2025, applied exactly as printed: annualized wages minus $8,750, minus $930 per Form VA-4 personal or dependent exemption, minus $800 per age or blindness exemption, then the schedule above. The formula has no filing-status dimension at all: every table in the Department's document is keyed to the exemption count alone, and its worked example subtracts $8,750 for a married employee claiming himself, his spouse, and three children, giving $2,628 of withholding on $63,576 of wages. If your Virginia line here looks low next to a joint filer's expectations, that is the withholding formula doing what it does; the higher joint standard deduction is applied on the Virginia return, not in the paycheck.
the saving lands on the return, not the paycheck
Tips and overtime: the 2026 difference
Most paycheck calculators stop at withholding. This one also shows the new 2026 deduction context, because tax year 2026 is the first year tips and the overtime premium carry deductions of their own: tips up to $25,000 per return, and the overtime premium up to $12,500, or $25,000 on a joint return, claimed on the new Schedule 1-A. Both phase out from $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $300,000 on a joint return.
Two cautions belong with that panel. First, the deductions are worked out on your tax return, not in your paycheck: the saving normally arrives at filing time, unless you adjust your Form W-4 so withholding reflects the deductions during the year, which the 2026 Form W-4 allows. Second, for 2026 the IRS states in Fact Sheet FS-2026-13 that the deductions are generally limited to the amounts your employer separately reports on your W-2, in Box 12 with code TP for tips and code TT for the overtime premium. The tips deduction calculator and the overtime deduction calculator work through those rules in full.
no 401(k) assumed here, on purpose
What this estimate does not include
- Pre-tax deductions from your pay, such as 401(k) or 403(b) contributions and health insurance premiums. Those reduce the wages most taxes are figured on, and they depend on elections only you and your employer know, so no honest estimate can assume them.
- Bonuses, commissions, and irregular pay. Payroll annualizes each check as if it repeated all year, so a one-off payment is usually withheld at a higher effective rate than this estimate shows for steady pay.
- Credits and return-level items. Withholding is an advance payment. Your actual tax is settled on your return, where credits, other income, and deductions all enter.
- Any local tax other than the one you select or enter on this page.
PlainStub also runs paycheck calculators for Pennsylvania, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, South Carolina, and Virginia, each built on that state's own published 2026 figures.
Sources
- Virginia Department of Taxation: Withholding Tables for Wages Paid after July 1, 2025. The printed withholding formula, the $8,750, $930, and $800 amounts, the rate schedule, and the worked example. Checked November 4, 2026.
- IRS, Publication 15-T, Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods, 2026 edition. Worksheet 1A and the 2026 percentage method tables. Checked November 4, 2026.
- IRS, Topic No. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates; Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base for 2026 ($184,500). Checked November 4, 2026.
Last reviewed: November 4, 2026.