How a Georgia paycheck works
Georgia taxes wages at a single flat rate. Withholding annualises the wage, subtracts a standard deduction that depends on the marital status entered on Form G-4, subtracts an amount for each dependent allowance claimed, and applies the rate to what is left. There are no brackets to climb and no local income tax anywhere in the state.
Federal income tax withholding
Federal withholding annualises the wage, subtracts the standard deduction that matches the filing status on Form W-4 Step 1, applies the graduated schedule for that status, and deducts the dependent credit from Step 3. This page models a W-4 with Steps 2 and 4 left blank: one job, no spouse income, no other income, no extra withholding. Above the income limit for the status, the dependent credit tapers by a set amount for every thousand dollars of excess rather than disappearing at a cliff.
Social Security and Medicare
Social Security applies a flat rate to wages up to an annual ceiling that is re-indexed each year, so it stops partway through the year for a high earner. Medicare applies to every dollar, and above a fixed wage threshold the employer withholds the Additional Medicare tax on the excess, with no employer match and no regard for filing status.
The rate changed partway through this year
Georgia has been stepping its flat rate down under a schedule set in statute, and the reduction for this year did not take effect on 1 January. The employer guide is explicit about the sequence: employers had to keep withholding at the old, higher rate until the change took effect in May, and could move to the lower rate from that date. Nothing in the publication says pay from earlier in the year is recalculated.
This page uses the lower rate, because that is what an employer withholds today. If you compare it against a payslip from January or February you should expect the state line to be a little smaller here. The annual return settles the difference either way, since the lower rate applies to the whole tax year for the purpose of working out what you actually owe.
Form G-4 and the standard deduction
The state standard deduction turns on which marital status you tick on Form G-4, and the split is not the one most people expect. A joint return with a single income gets the full deduction. Everyone else gets half of it: single filers, head of household, married filing separately, and, importantly, a married couple where both spouses have income. The guide states that last case directly, because two payrolls each subtracting the full joint deduction would under-withhold badly.
Head of household is worth a special note. Georgia gives it the same standard deduction as a single filer for withholding purposes, so ticking it does not reduce the state line at all, even though it does change your federal withholding.
Dependent allowances
Each dependent allowance claimed on Form G-4 removes a further fixed amount from the annual wage before the rate applies. These are allowances for dependants, not the same thing as the children counted for the federal credit, and they come off income rather than off tax. An employee who claims none is withheld on the standard deduction alone.
Local income tax
No Georgia county or city taxes wages. Atlanta, Savannah and Augusta all have the same payroll deductions as anywhere else in the state.
What the employer pays on top
The employer matches Social Security and Medicare and pays federal unemployment tax at its net rate. Georgia unemployment insurance is charged to the employer at a rate set from its own claims record on a state wage base, so it is left out. There is no employee-side state levy in Georgia: no disability insurance, no paid family leave premium.
What this calculator assumes
The figure models a salaried employee paid evenly across the year with a standard Form W-4 and Form G-4, and no pre-tax deductions. It leaves out:
- Pre-tax contributions such as a 401(k), health premiums, HSA or flexible spending accounts, which reduce the wages subject to income tax and often to FICA.
- Extra withholding requested on the federal or state certificate, and the W-4 Step 2 and Step 4 adjustments.
- Bonuses and other supplemental wages, which may be withheld at a flat supplemental rate.
- Employer-side state unemployment insurance, which is priced per employer, and any federal unemployment credit reduction.
- Employees outside the normal Social Security system, such as some public-sector staff and certain visa holders.
Withholding versus your final tax bill
Withholding is a prepayment. The annual returns, federal and state, replace these standard assumptions with your real situation: itemised deductions, other income, and credits payroll knows nothing about. One job usually produces a refund; two jobs, a working spouse or investment income often produce a balance due.