Paycheck Calculator Georgia
Georgia cut its income tax again for 2026, down to a flat 4.99%, and quietly offers one of the biggest standard deductions in the country. Enter your salary below to see the new rate in action.
Georgia's 2026 tax brackets
Georgia taxes all income at one flat rate. The rate fell for 2026 under HB 463, and the standard deduction is unusually generous: Read the table as a package: a mid-pack rate applied to a smaller-than-usual base. Both halves matter, and the deduction half is the part most calculators rush past.
| Bracket | Rate applies to |
|---|---|
| Flat rate | 4.99% of Georgia taxable income |
| Standard deduction (single) | $15,000 |
| Standard deduction (joint) | $30,000 |
| Dependent deduction | $5,000 |
A tax cut still in motion
The 4.99% is not the end of the story. Georgia is phasing its flat rate down year by year, and 2026 brought it from 5.19% to 4.99%, retroactive to January 1. If the schedule holds, more cuts are coming, which makes Georgia one of the few states where your state tax bill is scheduled to shrink without you doing anything.
The sleeper feature is the deduction. A married couple gets $30,000 off before the 4.99% even starts, which is nearly the federal standard deduction. That means a two-earner household at $70,000 pays state tax on only about $40,000 of income, roughly $1,996. The flat rate sounds plain until you see what the deduction does to the base.
Georgia also treats retirees kindly: the state excludes a large chunk of retirement income, up to $65,000 per person at 65 and older. For workers, the practical comparison is North Carolina next door, where the flat rate is lower at 3.99% but the deduction is smaller. Run both and see which base wins at your salary.
Mistakes Georgia workers make
- Seeing 5.19% on early 2026 stubs. Georgia's Department of Revenue told employers to keep withholding at the old 5.19% until May 11, 2026, then switch to 4.99%. If your spring pay stubs show the higher rate, that is the transition, not an error. The difference comes back at filing time.
- Underrating the deduction. People compare Georgia's 4.99% against North Carolina's 3.99% and stop there. At family incomes the $30,000 joint deduction can erase the rate gap entirely.
- Overlooking the retirement exclusion. From age 62, Georgia starts excluding retirement income, reaching $65,000 per person at 65. Workers nearing retirement should time big withdrawals with their birthday in mind.
An example you can check
Take a $70,000 salary, single filer, no extras. Federal tax is $6,570, Social Security $4,340, Medicare $1,015, Georgia tax $2,745. Take-home: $55,331 a year, $2,128.10 every two weeks.
The joint deduction is where Georgia shines. A married couple on $70,000 pays state tax on only about $40,000 of income after the $30,000 standard deduction: $1,996 of tax, and $58,609 kept. That is $3,278 more than the same salary filed single. If you are comparing Atlanta with Raleigh, remember North Carolina's deduction is $12,750 single and $25,500 joint. Georgia's bigger shield can beat North Carolina's lower rate at family incomes.
Frequently asked questions
Did Georgia cut its income tax again for 2026?
How does Georgia's $30,000 standard deduction work?
Georgia or North Carolina: which flat tax is cheaper?
How much Georgia tax comes out of a $100,000 salary?
Does Georgia tax Social Security benefits?
More paycheck calculators
Or use the national paycheck calculator to switch between states, or browse all twenty states from the paycheck hub.
Sources & methodology
The 2026 federal and Georgia figures in this calculator come from official tax sources and are documented on our methodology page. The federal layers above Georgia’s flat tax are explained in how paycheck taxes work.