Arizona does not work out your state withholding. You do. There is no filing status in it, no allowances and no tax tables: you pick a percentage from a short list on Form A-4 and your employer withholds exactly that from every check. It is the simplest state withholding system in the country and the easiest one to get quietly wrong.
On a $75,000 salary at the default rate, a single filer keeps about $60,093, with $1,500 going to Arizona.
The percentages you can choose
Form A-4 lists seven, plus a zero election. The percentage applies to your gross taxable wages, which the form defines as your gross pay less pre-tax deductions such as your share of health premiums. It is the same wage figure federal tax starts from, not your headline salary.
| A-4 election | Withheld on $75,000 | Against a liability of about $1,481 |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0 | owe the lot in April |
| 1.0% | $750 | short by $731 |
| 1.5% | $1,125 | short by $356 |
| 2.0% (the default) | $1,500 | refund of about $19 |
| 2.5% | $1,875 | refund of about $394 |
| 3.5% | $2,625 | refund of about $1,144 |
If you never filed an A-4, you are on 2.0%
Not zero, which is what people assume. The Department of Revenue requires your employer to withhold the default, and Form A-4 says so plainly: if you do not give the form to your employer, the department requires your employer to withhold 2.0% of your gross taxable wages.
So the question worth asking is whether 2.0% is the right number for you, and the answer turns on an arithmetic quirk rather than on anything about your circumstances.
Arizona’s tax rate is 2.5%, but the default withholding is 2.0%, and that is not the mistake it looks like. The 2.5% is charged on your income after the standard deduction, while the 2.0% is charged on all of your taxable wages. The deduction is what closes the gap. Below roughly $79,000 the default slightly over-collects and you get a small refund. Above it, the untaxed slice stops being large enough to make up the half point, and the default starts falling short: about $56 at $90,000, $206 at $120,000 and $356 at $150,000. If you earn well into six figures and have never touched your A-4, electing 2.5% is the change that stops the April surprise.
Zero is a real option, with a catch
If you expect to owe Arizona nothing for the year, you can elect zero withholding rather than leaving the form blank. Those are different things: blank means your employer applies 2.0%, while zero means nothing is withheld at all.
- It does not cancel the tax. The form’s own warning is that zero withholding does not relieve you from paying Arizona income taxes that might be due when you file.
- It expires. A zero election has to be renewed each year with a fresh A-4, or your employer goes back to withholding.
- It is reversible mid-year. If your situation changes, file a new A-4 and pick a percentage rather than waiting for January.
What else comes out
Arizona withholds nothing else. Unemployment insurance is funded by employers, and the state runs no disability or paid family leave contribution, so the state line on your stub is the A-4 percentage and nothing more.
The rest is federal: about $7,670 of income tax on $75,000, which your W-4 controls, and $5,738 of Social Security and Medicare, which no form touches. One useful consequence of Arizona’s design: because the state percentage runs on the same taxable wage base as federal tax, a pre-tax deduction such as a 401(k) contribution cuts your Arizona withholding at the same time as your federal, which is not true in every state.
Arizona paycheck calculator FAQ
Arizona’s tax rate is 2.5% of your income after the standard deduction, and the choices on the form are percentages of your full taxable wages. Below roughly $79,000 the 2.0% default lands slightly ahead of what you owe; above that it falls short and 2.5% is the closer match. The calculator above lets you try each percentage against your own salary.
Your employer is required to withhold at the default rate of 2.0% of your gross taxable wages. It is not zero. Form A-4 states that if you do not give the form to your employer, the department requires your employer to withhold 2.0%.
Yes, if you expect to owe no Arizona tax for the year. It is an explicit election rather than leaving the form blank, and it has to be renewed each year with a new A-4. The form warns that zero withholding does not relieve you from paying Arizona income taxes that might be due when you file.
No. Arizona withholding is a flat percentage of your gross taxable wages and nothing else. Filing status, allowances and dependents play no part in it, which is why the state has nothing resembling the federal W-4’s steps.