How much tax is taken out of my paycheck in Iowa?

The marital status on your IA W-4 matters most, because it sets the deduction taken off each paycheck before Iowa's single rate is applied. The allowance amount you wrote on the form then comes off the result, a share of it in every pay period. A married employee should also say whether their spouse earns, since a spouse with no earnings puts them on a much larger deduction.

What are the withholding tables for Iowa?

Iowa publishes a four-step formula and posts withholding tables as an alternative to it. The formula takes the deduction for the pay period off taxable wages, applies one rate, subtracts the allowance amount divided by the number of pay periods, and adds any extra withholding the employee asked for. This page works the first three steps; an extra amount requested on the form is not asked for here.

What is the allowance amount on the IA W-4?

A dollar figure written on the form as one total, in place of the count of allowances older versions asked for. Iowa takes that total off the tax over the course of the year, an equal share each pay period, so it is worth the same whatever you earn as long as the tax for the period is larger than its share. Enter it in the IA allowance amount field as it stands on the form.

Does my spouse's income change Iowa withholding?

Only for a married employee filing jointly. If the spouse has no earned income, Iowa uses its largest deduction, the one it also gives a qualified surviving spouse; if the spouse earns, the employee drops to the deduction for Other. An unanswered question counts as no earnings, so answer Yes to Spouse has earned income when it applies.

Iowa paycheck calculator

Iowa withholds one flat rate, but not on the whole paycheck. A deduction set for each pay period comes off first, and its size follows the marital status on the IA W-4: one amount for an employee who checks Other or whose spouse also earns, a larger one for a head of household, and the largest for a married employee whose spouse has no earned income. The allowance on the IA W-4, a dollar figure rather than a count, then comes off the tax itself.

Take-home pay

$1,633.85

per bi-weekly (26 per year) period

Gross pay: $2,000.00
Federal Income Tax: −$156.15
Social Security: −$124.00
Medicare: −$29.00
IA State Income Tax: −$57.00
Net pay: $1,633.85

Carries these figures into a full Iowa pay stub you can preview and download.

How Iowa withholding is worked out

Here the deduction follows the filing status and one check box, and the Single status reads the column the form calls Other. A married employee is read into the largest deduction until Spouse has earned income is answered Yes, which is how Iowa treats that question on its form when it is left blank; answering Yes moves them to the amount for Other. The IA allowance amount is the total in dollars from the form: Iowa divides it by the number of pay periods in the year and takes that share off the tax on each paycheck. An employee still on an IA W-4 from before the form asked for dollars counts allowances instead, entered here as IA allowances, and the state turns each one into a fixed sum; with both fields filled in, the dollar amount is the one used. The formula leaves certain employer payments into retirement plans and for health insurance out of taxable wages.

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.

Iowa charges the same rates whatever the filing status, but the status still changes the amounts given below the table. Wages are annualised first, so the figures below are annual.

Every filing status
Annual wages	Tax on the lower figure	Rate on the rest
$0.00 and up	$0.00	3.8%

Annual deduction

Single: $13,000.00

Married filing jointly, spouse earns: $13,000.00

Married filing jointly, spouse has no earned income: $26,000.00

Head of household: $19,500.00

Iowa prints it for each pay period, and the yearly amounts are shown. Taken off the wages before the rate.

Credit per allowance on an older form

$40.00

For a state form that still counts allowances. The current form gives the allowance in dollars, and that amount is the credit instead. Either way it is taken off the tax, not off the income.

Iowa Withholding Formula effective January 1, 2026: a flat 3.8% on wages less a deduction keyed to the pay period and to the marital status on the IA W-4. The allowance is a dollar amount on that form, and a 2023 or earlier IA W-4 is converted at $40 an allowance. The daily payroll period is not modelled: the form has no daily frequency.

Iowa sources

Frequently asked questions

What Iowa law asks of a pay stub

Whether a stub is required, how it may be delivered, and the minimum wage and pay frequency rules.

Iowa pay stub requirements