Estimate 2026 Virginia paychecks using official employer tables, VA-4 exemptions, benefit deductions, hourly/salary examples, and overtime guidance.
Your pay details
Change any field to update the gross estimate.
01 / INPUT
Regular resident wages, 2020+ federal W-4, latest supported 2026 state tables. Not for historical paychecks, bonuses, nonresident allocation, or multistate payroll.
Pay amount
Tax context
Deductions
Enter deductions for one pay period. Other pre-tax reduces income-tax wages but not FICA; use only qualifying deductions. Dollar elections below specify annual or per-paycheck amounts separately.
Federal W-4 elections
Planning inputs only. This does not submit an electronic W-4; your employer uses the form you file with them. Leave blank anything you did not enter on your W-4.
$
Annual dollars
$
Annual dollars
$
Annual dollars
$
Dollars per paycheck
Year-to-date taxable wages
Taxable wages earned before this paycheck from the same employer—not tax already withheld. Blank means 0.
$
Wages before this paycheck
$
Wages before this paycheck
Virginia state withholding
Enter the count on your state certificate. Blank means zero.
Additional exemptions from VA-4, at $800 annually each.
$
Dollars per paycheck
$
Optional. State income-tax wages for this paycheck; blank uses the calculated amount.
Virginia’s employer formula uses the $8,500 deduction, $930 per personal exemption, and $800 per age/blind exemption. Resident regular wages only. Use the wage override for a known state-taxable base. Enter county/local taxes, disability, paid leave, and other payroll charges as actual dollar amounts below.Effective current 2026 payroll tables (not historical paychecks)Official employer withholding source
Local and other payroll
Known actual dollar amounts per paycheck, not rates. Blank means 0.
$
Dollars per paycheck
$
Dollars per paycheck
Virginia’s employer formula uses the $8,500 deduction, $930 per personal exemption, and $800 per age/blind exemption. Effective current 2026 payroll tables (not historical paychecks).
ESTIMATED TAKE-HOME PAY
Complete the inputs
Enter pay, state, and filing status to calculate.
Paycheck breakdownBIWEEKLY
Gross pay · every 2 weeks gross$0.00
Federal income tax · estimate—
State income tax · estimate—
Social Security · estimate—
Medicare, including any additional tax—
Pre-tax deductions—
Post-tax deductions—
Local tax · entered amount—
Other payroll · entered amount—
Estimated net pay—
Choose your tax contextSelect a U.S. state and filing status. Tax lines stay blank until these are selected.
Withholding estimates use current employer tables and the elections entered. Annual totals repeat this paycheck—not future wage-cap changes. Local taxes, disability, and paid leave require actual entered amounts. Historical or special payroll methods are not supported.
Paycheck & Tax Guides
Understand the numbers behind your paycheck.
Practical 2026 explanations with IRS and state sources. Learn what an estimate can—and cannot—tell you.
Virginia paycheck withholding uses the employer formula and VA-4 elections. A withholding deduction is not necessarily the same as a deduction claimed on a final annual return, which is why copying return amounts into payroll fields can produce misleading estimates.
The published Virginia employer formula
Virginia’s employer tables annualize taxable wages, subtract the published $8,500 employer deduction, and subtract $930 for each personal/dependent exemption and $800 for each age/blind exemption. The withholding schedule reaches 5.75% on adjusted annual wages above $17,000, with cumulative tax from the lower bands.
These are the payroll formula values in the linked official employer publication, not a promise that your annual return uses identical deductions. Use the actual VA-4 exemption counts. A dependent’s federal W-4 credit is a dollar figure with different rules and should not be pasted into the state count.
A $78,000 annual salary produces $3,000 gross over 26 checks but $3,250 over 24 checks. Those are different deposit schedules, not a change in annual compensation. Fixed benefit dollars per check may also produce different annual contributions when payroll frequency changes.
Traditional retirement contributions generally reduce modeled income-tax wages while remaining subject to FICA. Qualifying cafeteria premiums reduce the modeled FICA base too. For a Virginia household with other-state work, identify residency and wage allocation first; this regular resident model does not decide reciprocity or nonresident treatment.
Under the federal FLSA, covered nonexempt employees generally receive at least time-and-a-half for worked hours beyond 40 in a week. At $28, six qualifying overtime hours add $252 to the check. Being paid a salary does not by itself establish exemption; duties and applicable legal tests matter.
Once gross overtime earnings are established, include them in regular taxable wages for this estimate. State withholding is an advance payment, not a special final tax on overtime. Federal qualified-overtime eligibility and any return adjustments require separate review rather than deleting the overtime wage base.
Virginia worked examples
Both examples are hypothetical and calculated with this site's withholding engine for a single filer.
Weekly hourly pay with one VA-4 exemption
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Weekly (52 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$28.00 per hour × 40 hours = $1,120.00
Filer
Single, 2020+ W-4, Step 2 off, Steps 3 and 4 zero, year-to-date wages zero
State elections
Defaults except as listed below
Overridden elections
State allowances: 1
Per-paycheck breakdown for Weekly hourly pay with one VA-4 exemption
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$1,120.00
Federal income tax withheld
$92.48
VA state income tax withheld
$49.02
Social Security
$69.44
Medicare
$16.24
Retirement contribution
$0.00
Health deduction
$0.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$892.82
Excluded: local tax ($0.00) and other payroll deductions ($0.00) are assumed zero unless shown above. No benefits are included unless listed. This is a partial net under assumptions, not an actual deposit.
Gross is $1,120. One $930 personal/dependent exemption is used; age/blind exemptions and extra state withholding are zero. The employer deduction is applied automatically.
Salary and a pre-tax health premium
Hypothetical example, not a real paycheck
Pay frequency
Biweekly (26 periods per year)
Gross calculation
$78,000.00 annual salary ÷ 26 pay periods = $3,000.00
Filer
Single, 2020+ W-4, Step 2 off, Steps 3 and 4 zero, year-to-date wages zero
State elections
Defaults except as listed below
Overridden elections
State allowances: 1
Per-paycheck breakdown for Salary and a pre-tax health premium
Line
Per paycheck
Gross pay
$3,000.00
Federal income tax withheld
$296.18
VA state income tax withheld
$135.42
Social Security
$179.18
Medicare
$41.91
Retirement contribution
$0.00
Health deduction
$110.00
Partial net pay under these assumptions
$2,237.31
Excluded: local tax ($0.00) and other payroll deductions ($0.00) are assumed zero unless shown above. No benefits are included unless listed. This is a partial net under assumptions, not an actual deposit.
Gross is $3,000 with a $110 qualifying pre-tax health premium. This calculation uses the official employer schedule, not a completed Virginia income-tax return.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the employer formula show an $8,500 deduction?
That is the value in the linked Virginia withholding formula. Payroll withholding and annual-return rules should not be conflated; use the employer instructions to compare a stub.
Does choosing joint federal filing automatically add Virginia exemptions?
No. VA-4 exemption counts are separate elections. Enter the certificate values actually on file rather than assuming a federal filing label supplies them.
Can I compare biweekly and semimonthly salaries directly?
Compare annual totals and benefit assumptions as well as one check. Biweekly uses 26 regular periods; semimonthly uses 24, so equal annual salaries produce different gross amounts per check.
Default mode follows IRS Publication 15-T Worksheet 1A for a 2020-or-later W-4 and each supported state’s current employer formula. W-4 credits and annual adjustments affect federal withholding; state elections follow the state certificate independently.
Social Security withholds 6.2% on this check’s remaining wages under the $184,500 employer wage cap. Medicare withholds 1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages crossing the employer’s $200,000 threshold, regardless of filing status. Enter taxable wages before this paycheck in the YTD controls. Traditional retirement deferrals remain subject to FICA; qualifying cafeteria-plan health premiums are assumed FICA-exempt.
Annual projections repeat this check. The separate annual tax estimate mode retains a limited legacy liability model and uses filing-status Medicare liability thresholds; it does not represent paycheck withholding. Overtime is not automatically exempt from withholding or FICA. Use W-4 Step 4(b) for an elected overtime-related withholding deduction.
TAX YEAR 2026
Sources & assumptions
Federal filing statusNot selected
State selectedVirginia
Rule set and update2026 · current 2026 payroll tables (not historical paychecks)
Regular resident wage withholding only. Not for 2019-or-earlier W-4 forms, historical pay dates, supplemental/bonus methods, multistate allocation, reciprocity, pensions, or special employer methods. State wage overrides and entered local/other payroll dollars are used as supplied, not independently verified. Each state section identifies its table and effective period. DC withholding is not verified and is unavailable rather than silently using annual brackets. Legacy annual mode omits many state adjustments and later amendments. This is a planning estimate, not tax advice or a guarantee of your employer’s exact result.