Virginia’s withholding has no idea whether you are married. There is no filing status in the formula, and Form VA-4 has no single or married box to tick. All it asks is how many exemptions you claim, which makes it one of the simplest state forms in the country and the source of a predictable annual surprise for couples.
On a $75,000 salary with one exemption, a single filer keeps about $58,094, after $3,498 of Virginia income tax.
The rates, and where they stop mattering
| Taxable income | Rate | Tax at the top of the band |
|---|---|---|
| First $3,000 | 2% | $60 |
| $3,000 to $5,000 | 3% | $120 |
| $5,000 to $17,000 | 5% | $720 |
| Over $17,000 | 5.75% | — |
The top band starts at $17,000 of taxable income, which on these deductions means a salary of about $26,700. Above that, every extra dollar is taxed at 5.75% and the lower bands never change again. For most full time workers Virginia behaves like a flat 5.75% tax with a fixed $427 discount built into the first $17,000.
Married couples are over-withheld on purpose
Here is the quirk worth knowing about before April rather than during it.
The withholding formula uses a flat $8,750 standard deduction for everybody. Your annual return does not. A married couple filing jointly gets $17,500 on the return, double the figure the paycheck calculation uses, and nothing in the payroll formula knows the difference. So a married Virginian has tax withheld all year as though they were single, and gets the gap back as a refund. On a joint return that is $8,750 of income taxed at 5.75% that should not have been, which is about $503 a year sitting with the Commonwealth until you file. It is not an error and there is no box to fix it. The only lever Virginia gives you is the number of exemptions on your VA-4.
Worth noting for next year: the increased standard deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2026 and revert to the lower pre-2019 figure unless the legislature extends it. That would raise withholding for everybody.
What your exemptions are worth
Each exemption on your VA-4 takes $930 a year off your taxable wages, which at the top rate is about $53 a year of withholding. They are modest, and the arithmetic is linear: three exemptions shelter three times what one does, with no cliff and no taper.
Virginia also has separate exemptions for being 65 or over and for blindness, and those are worth $800 rather than $930. The calculator above applies the $930 rate to whatever number you enter, so if your total includes an age or blindness exemption the figure shown shelters $130 too much per exemption, which is around $7 a year.
What else comes out
Nothing, at state level. Virginia has no disability contribution, no paid family leave contribution and no local wage taxes anywhere in the Commonwealth. Unemployment insurance is an employer tax administered by the Employment Commission and never touches your wages.
- Federal income tax, about $7,670 on $75,000, which your W-4 controls.
- Social Security and Medicare, $5,738. A flat 7.65%.
- Virginia income tax, about $3,498. The only state line you will see.
So a Virginia pay stub is unusually short. If there is a fourth line on yours, it is something you or your employer added rather than anything the state requires, and every line on a pay stub covers what the abbreviations mean.
Virginia paycheck calculator FAQ
No. Virginia’s withholding formula has no filing status in it and Form VA-4 has no single or married selector. The only thing you control is the number of exemptions you claim. Being married changes your Virginia paycheck only if it changes that number.
Because the payroll formula uses a flat $8,750 standard deduction for everyone, while a joint return gets $17,500. A married couple is therefore withheld as though single all year and gets the difference back, roughly $503 at the top rate. There is no box on the VA-4 to correct it.
It runs from 2% to 5.75% across four bands, with the top rate starting at $17,000 of taxable income. After the standard deduction and one exemption that is a salary of about $26,700, so most full time workers pay 5.75% on each additional dollar.
Each one takes $930 a year off your taxable wages, which is about $53 of withholding at the top rate. Exemptions for being 65 or over or for blindness are worth $800 rather than $930.