West Virginia publishes two complete withholding schedules and makes the more expensive one the default. Getting onto the cheaper one takes a single tick on Form IT-104, and at $75,000 it is worth about $199 a year.
On that salary with one exemption claimed, a single filer on the lower table keeps about $59,047, after $2,546 of West Virginia income tax. On the state’s default table the same person is charged $2,745, which is $199 more for the year. Same job, same pay, same filing status.
Two tables, and the default is the higher one
The Tax Division builds its standard tables around a household with two incomes and sets them deliberately high, so that a two-earner couple is not under-withheld. That is a reasonable default for a couple and an expensive one for everybody else, which is why the lower schedule exists as an election.
| Rate | One earner, one job (elected) | Two earners or two jobs (default) |
|---|---|---|
| 2.11% | First $10,000 | First $7,500 |
| 2.81% | To $25,000 | To $18,750 |
| 3.16% | To $40,000 | To $30,000 |
| 4.22% | To $60,000 | To $45,000 |
| 4.58% | Above $60,000 | Above $45,000 |
The IT-104 says who may elect the lower table: a single filer, a head of household, or a married person whose spouse does not work, in each case with wages from only one job. If that is you, the tick is free money until you file, and if it is not, the default is the table you want.
The direction of this box is the opposite of everywhere else
Worth pausing on, because it is the detail most likely to trip up anyone who has filled in a W-4 in another state. In Missouri or Kansas, a two jobs box moves a joint filer from a generous married table onto a narrower single one, raising withholding from a default that assumes a single income. West Virginia starts from the opposite assumption. The default here already assumes two incomes, and the form you fill in is asking to come down.
So if you are single with one job and you never asked for the lower rate, you are paying $199 a year early. It is withholding rather than tax, so it comes back when you file, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed: nothing on your pay stub says which of the two tables your employer is using. The IT-104 is the only place that decision lives, and most people fill it in once on their first day and never see it again.
The 5% cut landed in June and was backdated to January
West Virginia cut every rate by 5% in 2026. The law took effect on June 12 and applies retroactively to January 1, so the top rate for the whole of 2026 is 4.58% where 2025 was 4.82%, and the tables above are the revised ones.
Two practical consequences. Payroll systems only switched mid-year, so the first several months of 2026 were withheld at the old rates for a lot of people, and that overpayment comes back at filing rather than being lost. And any guide, calculator or payroll table still quoting 4.82% is describing last year rather than this one, which is worth checking before you trust a figure you found elsewhere.
The city fee that no calculator includes, including this one
Several West Virginia cities charge a flat weekly service fee on everyone who works inside the city limits, and your employer withholds it alongside the state tax. It is not a percentage, so it does not scale with your pay: the person on $30,000 and the person on $300,000 pay the same.
| City | Fee | A year |
|---|---|---|
| Huntington | $5 a week | $260 |
| Charleston | $3 a week | $156 |
| Morgantown | $3 a week | $156 |
| Parkersburg | $2.50 a week | $130 |
| Wheeling, Weirton, Chester | $2 a week | $104 |
| Romney | $1 a week | $52 |
Which produces an odd result in Huntington: the $260 fee is larger than the $199 the IT-104 election is worth at this salary. The deduction nobody models is bigger than the one everybody argues about.
What actually comes out of a West Virginia paycheck
On that $75,000 salary, assuming the lower table and one exemption:
- Federal income tax, about $7,670. What FIT on your pay stub is explains how it is worked out.
- Social Security and Medicare, $5,738. A flat 7.65% that no form changes. FICA covers what it buys.
- West Virginia income tax, $2,546. Or $2,745 on the default table. Each exemption on the IT-104 is worth $2,000 off your wages, which is about $92 a year.
- A city service fee, if you work in one of the cities above. Between $52 and $260 a year, and not included in the figures here.
- Whatever you chose. Health premiums, a 401(k), an HSA.
That leaves about $4,921 a month. West Virginia has no disability or paid family leave contribution, and unemployment insurance is charged to employers by WorkForce West Virginia rather than deducted from pay. On a West Virginia stub, a flat weekly figure that never changes with your hours is almost always the city fee rather than a tax.
Comparing a West Virginia offer against its neighbors
West Virginia is cheap by the standards of the states around it, and the 2026 cut widened the gap.
- Kentucky, about $2,507. Within $39 of West Virginia, close enough to be a rounding error, until a Kentucky local occupational tax is added on top.
- Virginia, about $3,498. Nearly $1,000 more on the same salary, and Virginia’s withholding ignores filing status in a way that over-withholds married couples by design.
- Maryland, about $3,249 plus a county tax. In Montgomery County the county adds $2,189, which is not a comparison West Virginia loses.
The take-home pay by state table has every state side by side if you are weighing an offer further afield.
West Virginia paycheck calculator FAQ
About $2,546 a year with one exemption on the lower table, or $2,745 on the state default table. The difference of $199 depends entirely on whether you elected the one earner rate on Form IT-104.
Five bands from 2.11% to 4.58%, after a 5% cut that took effect on June 12, 2026 and applies retroactively to January 1. On the one earner table the top rate starts above $60,000 of taxable wages; on the default two earner table it starts above $45,000. Anything still quoting 4.82% is describing 2025.
The lower one if you are single, a head of household, or married with a spouse who does not work, and you have wages from only one job. It is an election you make on Form IT-104, and the state uses the higher two earner table until you make it, so nobody switches you automatically.
Not as a percentage, but several charge a flat weekly service fee that your employer withholds: $5 a week in Huntington, $3 in Charleston and Morgantown, $2.50 in Parkersburg, $2 in Wheeling, Weirton and Chester and $1 in Romney. It is charged on working in the city rather than living there, and it is not included in the figures on this page.
About $59,047 a year, or roughly $4,921 a month, after $7,670 of federal income tax, $5,738 of Social Security and Medicare and $2,546 of state income tax. Subtract a city service fee if you work in one of the cities that charges one.