Alabama paycheck calculator
Alabama's formula reaches into the federal line: the federal income tax withheld from the same check is subtracted from the wage, along with a state standard deduction that gets smaller as gross pay rises. Both that deduction and the personal exemption follow the letter the employee writes on Form A-4, and so does the schedule: the letter decides the Alabama line, and the filing status reaches it only through the federal withholding subtracted first.
Take-home pay
$1,605.00
per bi-weekly (26 per year) period
- Gross pay
- $2,000.00
- Federal Income Tax
- −$156.15
- Social Security
- −$124.00
- Medicare
- −$29.00
- AL State Income Tax No AL exemption code was chosen, so this line is withheld as for an employee who filed no Form A-4: using zero exemptions, code 0 with no dependents, which is what AL requires of an employer holding none. Pick the code from the employee's Form A-4 to withhold by it.
- −$85.85
- Net pay
- $1,605.00
Carries these figures into a full Alabama pay stub you can preview and download.
How Alabama withholding is worked out
The A-4 offers a letter for no exemption, single, married filing separately, married filing jointly and head of family. A separate filer has the single exemption, but a deduction that starts falling at a much lower wage; the zero letter claims no personal exemption at all. Each dependent, entered in the AL allowances box, takes a further amount off income, less per dependent the more the employee earns. With no letter picked, the calculator does what Alabama's booklet asks of an employer holding no A-4 and withholds using zero exemptions: the zero letter, with no dependents, whatever the filing status. Because the federal line is part of the arithmetic, a higher federal withholding leaves less for Alabama to tax. Only the state is worked out here: the occupational license fee some Alabama cities charge on wages earned there is not.
These are withholding figures: what an employer takes out of one paycheck, which is not the same calculation as the one on an annual return.
Alabama picks the schedule by the letter on its own form, not by the filing status, and each table below is headed with the letters that read it. Wages are annualised first, so the figures below are annual.
An employee who files no Form A-4, or names no code on it, is withheld using zero exemptions, code 0 with no dependents.
| Annual wages | Tax on the lower figure | Rate on the rest |
|---|---|---|
| $0.00 to $500.00 | $0.00 | 2% |
| $500.00 to $3,000.00 | $10.00 | 4% |
| $3,000.00 and up | $110.00 | 5% |
| Annual wages | Tax on the lower figure | Rate on the rest |
|---|---|---|
| $0.00 to $1,000.00 | $0.00 | 2% |
| $1,000.00 to $6,000.00 | $20.00 | 4% |
| $6,000.00 and up | $220.00 | 5% |
| Annual wages | Tax on the lower figure | Rate on the rest |
|---|---|---|
| $0.00 to $500.00 | $0.00 | 2% |
| $500.00 to $3,000.00 | $10.00 | 4% |
| $3,000.00 and up | $110.00 | 5% |
- By the code on the state's form
0 - no personal exemption claimed: exemption $0.00; standard deduction $3,000.00 up to $25,999.00 of annual wages, then $25.00 less for each $500.00 or part of it above that, down to $2,500.00 from $35,500.00
S - single: exemption $1,500.00; standard deduction $3,000.00 up to $25,999.00 of annual wages, then $25.00 less for each $500.00 or part of it above that, down to $2,500.00 from $35,500.00
MS - married filing separately: exemption $1,500.00; standard deduction $4,250.00 up to $12,999.00 of annual wages, then $88.00 less for each $250.00 or part of it above that, down to $2,500.00 from $17,750.00
M - married filing jointly: exemption $3,000.00; standard deduction $8,500.00 up to $25,999.00 of annual wages, then $175.00 less for each $500.00 or part of it above that, down to $5,000.00 from $35,500.00
H - head of family: exemption $3,000.00; standard deduction $5,200.00 up to $25,999.00 of annual wages, then $135.00 less for each $500.00 or part of it above that, down to $2,500.00 from $35,500.00
Both taken off the income before the schedule.
- Per dependent
Annual wages up to $50,000.00: $1,000.00
Annual wages up to $100,000.00: $500.00
Above $100,000.00: $300.00
Each dependent claimed takes this off the income before the schedule.
- Federal income tax withheld
Taken off the income in full before the schedule.
State tax only. Some Alabama cities charge an occupational license fee on wages earned in the city, which the employer deducts on top of this.
Withholding Tax Tables and Instructions, Rev. January 2026. Alabama subtracts the employee's annualized federal withholding and steps its standard deduction down by gross income, and both that deduction and the personal exemption follow the letter code on Form A-4. The printed wage-bracket tables are deliberately not reproduced: they take only the wage and the code, so they carry an assumption about federal withholding that the guide never states. An employee who names no code on the form is read as one who filed no A-4, which the same guide withholds from "using zero exemptions": code 0 and no dependents, whatever the filing status. Before that an unnamed code was read as the letter of the filing status (S, M or H), a default the guide does not name.
Alabama sources
Frequently asked questions
What Alabama law asks of a pay stub
Whether a stub is required, how it may be delivered, and the minimum wage and pay frequency rules.