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Georgia Paycheck Calculator

Reviewed Sep 29, 2026 IRS Pub 15-T 2026, Georgia DOR How we verify

Not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. General information; laws vary by state. Terms of use

Georgia paycheck calculator for tax year 2026: take-home pay and what the employer pays, per paycheck and per year. Georgia withholds its flat income tax at 4.99% on wages left after a standard deduction chosen by the marital status letter on Form G-4 and $5,000 for each allowance claimed (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)). Figures checked on September 29, 2026; the result is an estimate, not tax advice.

Take-home pay and employer cost

How the pay is set
USD per paycheck

Federal Form W-4

Step 2: two jobs or a working spouse
Other Form W-4 entries and pre-tax deductions (optional)Defaults used: every amount 0
USD per year
USD per year
USD per year
USD per paycheck
USD per paycheck
USD per paycheck
Georgia Form G-4 entries (optional)Defaults used: Single; no allowances
The letter from the marital status line of the Georgia certificate. With no form on file, the employer uses single with zero allowances.
allowances
Dependent allowances plus Georgia adjustments allowances, the total the employee writes on the Georgia certificate.
USD per paycheck
Optional. The dollar amount the employee asked for in the additional withholding box of the Georgia certificate.

Example: $2,000.00 gross pay per paycheck, paid every two weeks (26 paychecks a year), single, with the default G-4 entries below

Take-home pay

$1,619.84 per paycheck

$42,115.84 per year

Employee lines
LinePer paycheckPer year
Gross pay$2,000.00$52,000.00
Federal income tax withholding$156.15$4,059.90
Social Security$124.00$3,224.00
Medicare$29.00$754.00
Georgia income tax withholding$71.01$1,846.26
Take-home pay$1,619.84$42,115.84

What the employer pays

$2,217.80 per paycheck

$56,270.80 per year

Employer lines
LinePer paycheckPer year
Gross pay$2,000.00$52,000.00
Social Security (employer match)$124.00$3,224.00
Medicare (employer match)$29.00$754.00
Federal unemployment (FUTA)$12.00$42.00
State unemployment (new-employer rate)$52.80$250.80
Total employer cost$2,217.80$56,270.80

Sources: IRS Pub 15-T 2026 and Georgia DOR, checked September 29, 2026. Estimate for tax year 2026. Not tax advice.

What you type stays in this browser: the numbers are computed on this page, and we never receive or store them. A result link holds only the numbers and choices of the form.

How Georgia taxes a paycheck

The calculator applies the IRS Publication 15-T percentage method and, for Georgia, the Percentage method (Tables E and F), flat rate, Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026) of the Georgia Department of Revenue, in effect for wages paid from May 11, 2026. Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 a year and Medicare 1.45% of all wages (plus 0.9% on wages above $200,000 a year), and the employer pays Social Security and Medicare again at the same rates (Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide). The oldest Georgia document behind these figures was checked on September 29, 2026.

Georgia replaced its graduated brackets with a single flat rate, so the percentage method is short: subtract the standard deduction for the employee's status, subtract the allowance amount for every allowance claimed, and multiply what is left by 4.99%. The Department of Revenue prints the deduction and allowance amounts for each pay frequency in Tables E and F of its employer guide; they are the yearly amounts spread evenly across the pay periods (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

The rate itself moved during the year. Employers kept withholding at 5.19% until the start date the Department of Revenue set, and the lower rate of 4.99% applies to wages paid from May 11, 2026. The cut reaches back to January on the annual return, so tax withheld at the old rate earlier in the year is settled when the employee files (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

Form G-4 is Georgia's own certificate and it works differently from the federal form. It asks for a marital status letter: single, married with both spouses working or filing separately, married filing jointly with a spouse who has no wages, or head of household. A household where the other spouse has no wages gets the joint deduction of $30,000; every other letter gets $15,000, which is how Georgia keeps each paycheck in a working couple from claiming the full joint amount (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

Allowances on Form G-4 combine dependents and Georgia adjustments allowances worked out on the form's worksheet from itemized deductions and Georgia subtractions such as the retirement income exclusion. Each allowance removes $5,000 a year from the wages that are taxed. Pre-tax retirement plan deferrals and cafeteria plan amounts come off gross pay first, because Georgia follows the federal treatment of those plans (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

Georgia has no state disability or paid leave payroll tax, and no city or county in Georgia levies an income tax on wages, so the state line on a Georgia paycheck is this withholding amount alone. An employee who wants more taken out can write a dollar figure in the additional withholding box, and it is added to every paycheck on top of the formula.

The employer's side in Georgia

On the employer side Georgia adds state unemployment insurance, paid to the Georgia Department of Labor on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base, at the new employer rate until the business has its own experience rating. The Department of Labor also bills an administrative assessment together with the unemployment contribution; the annual rate notice shows the total. Georgia has no employer paid family leave or disability contribution.

Every employer also owes federal unemployment tax (FUTA): 6% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages a year. With the full 5.4% credit for state unemployment tax paid on time, the net rate is 0.6%, at most $42 per employee a year (IRS Topic no. 759, Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return).

In Georgia, a new employer pays state unemployment tax at 2.64% on the first $9,500 of each employee's wages a year (U.S. DOL, Office of Unemployment Insurance: Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, effective July 2026). Later the rate follows the employer's own record, so the line in the result is the starting cost, not a fixed one.

Payday and final pay rules in Georgia

The full Georgia rules, with each law quoted: Georgia employment rules. The date a final paycheck is due for a given last day: final paycheck calculator.

Worked examples

Three pay levels for a single filer paid every two weeks, with the default entries of the form, computed with the same code as the calculator.

Gross pay per paycheckFederal income tax per paycheckSocial Security and Medicare per paycheckGeorgia deductions per paycheckTake-home pay per paycheckEmployer cost per paycheck
$1,200.00$60.15$91.80$31.09$1,016.96$1,330.68
$2,500.00$216.15$191.25$95.96$1,996.64$2,772.25
$5,000.00$766.69$382.50$220.71$3,630.10$5,544.50

At $2,500.00 per paycheck the employee takes home $51,912.64 per year, and the employer spends $70,265.30 per year on that job before benefits.

Full time at the Georgia minimum wage (employers covered by the FLSA) of $7.25 per hour (State Minimum Wage Laws (U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division table, updated July 1, 2026), checked September 27, 2026), 40 hours per week, is $580.00 per paycheck every two weeks: $535.48 per paycheck take-home, and $643.16 per paycheck for the employer.

Method and sources

Federal figures used on every Pay Desk page:

  • Per paycheck and per year. Per paycheck is one paycheck early in the year, before any yearly wage base is reached; per year is the full year at this pay with every wage base applied (Social Security, unemployment tax and any capped state contribution).
  • Forms W-4 from before 2020. Not covered: the federal line follows Worksheet 1A for the 2020 and later form.
  • Tax year 2027. When this page was checked (September 29, 2026) the IRS had not published the 2027 withholding tables (IRS page of forms and publications posted before release), so the calculator stays on tax year 2026.
  • What it leaves out. Local taxes the form does not ask for, workers' compensation insurance, benefits the employer pays, and supplemental pay such as bonuses.

Questions people ask

What is the Georgia withholding rate on paychecks this year?

The percentage method uses a flat 4.99%. It applies to wages paid from May 11, 2026; before that date employers withheld at 5.19% (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

How much is each allowance on Form G-4 worth?

Each allowance, whether for a dependent or a Georgia adjustment, removes $5,000 a year from the wages taxed, which at a flat rate lowers yearly withholding by that amount times 4.99% (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

Which status letter should a married couple where both work use?

Letter B. It carries the $15,000 standard deduction per job, while letter C, for a joint return where the other spouse has no wages, carries $30,000 (Employer's Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (revised June 2026)).

What happens if an employee never turns in Form G-4?

The employer may use the federal election if it gives enough information; otherwise Georgia tax is withheld as if the employee were single with no allowances.

Do Georgia cities or counties take a local income tax from wages?

No. Georgia paychecks carry only the state withholding line; local governments in Georgia rely on property and sales taxes rather than a wage tax.

Where this goes next

ToolHourly to salary calculatorRulebookGeorgia employment rulesTemplateOffer letter template with the pay in writing

General information, not legal advice. Not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. This page is for general information only and isn’t legal, financial or tax advice. Laws vary by state and change; check the official source or talk to a qualified professional about your situation. Report an error