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

Take a year of your pay, subtract the standard deduction every Kentucky employee gets, apply the state's single rate, and divide by the number of paychecks: that is the state line. Nothing about your household enters into it. A city or county occupational license fee comes out of the same check and is not in the figure.

How can I calculate my paycheck in Kentucky?

Enter the pay and how often it arrives. For the state line nothing more is needed, since Kentucky's formula reads only annual wages; the filing status is still asked because the federal withholding depends on it. Occupational license fees vary by locality and are left out, so add your city's or county's if your stub carries one.

Why does Kentucky warn about having more than one job?

Each employer's formula subtracts the full standard deduction, but the return allows it only once. Someone with two W-2s has the deduction counted twice in withholding, and the state's formula says such an employee may need an extra amount withheld to cover it. The calculator works out one job at a time and adds nothing for that.

Does Kentucky's standard deduction change?

Yes, every year. The Department of Revenue adjusts it under KRS 141.081, and the deduction printed beside the rate is the one it published for the year being calculated. Employers that use the formula may use the deduction for the current year.

Kentucky paycheck calculator

Kentucky's withholding formula takes no filing status, no allowances and no dependents. A year of wages loses one standard deduction that is the same for every employee, the rest is taxed at a single rate, and the annual result is divided back over the pay periods. The Department of Revenue adjusts the deduction every year under the state's statute.

Take-home pay

$1,625.37

per bi-weekly (26 per year) period

Gross pay: $2,000.00
Federal Income Tax: −$156.15
Social Security: −$124.00
Medicare: −$29.00
KY State Income Tax: −$65.48
Net pay: $1,625.37

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

How Kentucky withholding is worked out

Because every employee gets the same deduction, two people on the same pay see the same Kentucky line whatever their household looks like, and the filing status field moves only the federal figure. Each employer's formula grants the deduction, but the return grants it once, so the state notes that someone with more than one W-2 may need an extra amount withheld. What this figure leaves out is local: Kentucky cities and counties charge occupational license fees on wages, which the employer withholds on top, and none of them is calculated here.

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.

Kentucky reads one schedule whatever the filing status. 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	3.5%

Annual standard deduction

Single: $3,360.00

Married filing jointly: $3,360.00

Head of household: $3,360.00

State tax only. Kentucky cities and counties charge occupational license fees on wages, withheld by the employer on top of this.

Kentucky sources

Frequently asked questions

What Kentucky law asks of a pay stub

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

Kentucky pay stub requirements