How a Mississippi paycheck works
Mississippi is part-way through phasing out its income tax. The rate has been stepped down every year and the schedule now has only two bands: a large zero band, and one rate on everything above it. Combined with a personal exemption that is generous relative to local wages, that means a substantial share of Mississippi employees have little or no state tax withheld at all.
Federal income tax withholding
Federal withholding annualises the wage, subtracts the standard deduction for 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 blank: one job, no spouse income, no other income, no extra withholding. Past the income limit the dependent credit tapers by a set amount for every thousand dollars of excess.
Social Security and Medicare
Social Security takes a flat rate on wages up to an annual ceiling that moves each year, so it stops partway through the year for a high earner. Medicare applies to every dollar, and above a fixed threshold the employer withholds the Additional Medicare tax on the excess.
The Mississippi calculation
The employer annualises the wage and subtracts two separate things: a standard deduction that depends on marital status, and the exemption total from the state exemption certificate. The exemption is the larger of the two and is set by marital status, with a further fixed amount for each dependant, and again for age 65 and for blindness. What remains is taxable income. Nothing is withheld on the first slice of it; above that threshold a single rate applies, and the result is rounded to whole dollars.
Married couples where both spouses work are handled by a separate column that uses the single standard deduction and splits the joint exemption between the two payrolls. This calculator models the case where one spouse is employed; a two-earner couple should expect a smaller exemption on each payslip than shown here.
Local income tax
No Mississippi county or municipality taxes wages. Jackson, Gulfport and Hattiesburg have identical payroll deductions.
What the employer pays on top
The employer matches Social Security and Medicare and pays federal unemployment tax at its net rate. Mississippi unemployment insurance is charged to the employer on a state wage base at a rate set from its own record. There is no employee-side state levy.
What this calculator assumes
The figure models a salaried employee paid evenly across the year with a standard Form W-4 and state certificate, and no pre-tax deductions. It leaves out:
- Pre-tax contributions such as a 401(k), health premiums, HSA or flexible spending accounts.
- 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.
- 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 federal and state returns replace these assumptions with your real situation: itemised deductions, other income, and credits payroll knows nothing about. One job usually produces a refund; two jobs or a working spouse often produce a balance due.