Massachusetts: 5% Flat, Plus a 9% Top for Millionaires
Massachusetts taxes most income at a flat 5%, but the 2023 "Fair Share" amendment added a 4% surtax on taxable income above $1,107,750 for 2026 (the threshold is indexed annually), pushing the top rate to 9%. For the large majority of workers under that line, it is a clean 5%. A single filer earning $100,000 owes about $4,780 in state income tax, an effective rate near 4.8% once the personal exemption is applied. The flat structure means there is no bracket creep below the surtax threshold.
The Millionaire Surtax in Practice
The 4% surtax applies only to the portion of taxable income above $1,107,750 (2026), not to your whole income. The catch for otherwise-ordinary households is the one-time event: selling a business, a large RSU vest, or a home-sale gain above the federal exclusion can push a normally sub-$1M filer over the line for a single year and trigger the extra 4% on the excess. If you are anticipating a liquidity event, the surtax threshold is worth planning around, spreading a sale across tax years can keep you under it.
Massachusetts Withholds for Paid Family and Medical Leave
Like Washington and New Jersey, Massachusetts funds Paid Family and Medical Leave through a payroll contribution. For 2026, employees contribute 0.46% of eligible wages, withheld separately from income tax. On a $100,000 salary that is about $460 a year. It is a small line, but it is a genuine state deduction that sits on top of the 5% income tax and is easy to overlook when comparing a Massachusetts offer to a no-PFML state.
No Standard Deduction, but Personal Exemptions
Massachusetts does not use a standard deduction. Instead it grants a personal exemption, $4,400 for single filers and $8,800 for married couples, along with specific deductions for things like rent and commuter costs that other states fold into a single standard amount. The practical effect is similar for most filers: a slice of income is shielded before the flat 5% applies, but the mechanics differ from the standard-deduction states around it.
Planning in Massachusetts
Below the surtax threshold, Massachusetts is a flat 5% plus the 0.46% PFML contribution, so a traditional 401(k) dollar saves 5% in state tax on top of your federal bracket with no bracket-shifting to chase. High earners near $1,107,750 should pay close attention to income timing, since every dollar over the line carries the extra 4%. Use the calculator above to model how pre-tax contributions change your Massachusetts take-home pay.
Massachusetts's 40% Earned Income Credit
Massachusetts pairs its flat rate with one of the most generous state EITCs in the country. The 2023 tax-relief law raised the Massachusetts credit from 30% to 40% of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (Mass.gov), and it is refundable, so a qualifying lower-income worker gets cash back rather than just a smaller bill. It is claimed on Form 1. For a state often labeled high-tax, the 40% match is a meaningful counterweight at the bottom of the income scale, and it is worth checking eligibility even though Massachusetts has no graduated brackets below the millionaire surtax.
How Massachusetts Taxes Retirement Income
Massachusetts gives retirees a partial break rather than a broad one. Social Security benefits are fully exempt from Massachusetts tax. Pensions and withdrawals from 401(k)s and traditional IRAs, however, are taxed at the flat 5%, and there is no general age-based exclusion like Georgia's or Illinois's blanket exemption. The notable carve-out is government pensions: contributory pensions from Massachusetts state and local government, the federal government, and certain other states are exempt. So a retired Massachusetts teacher or federal employee may owe nothing on their pension, while a private-sector retiree living on a 401(k) pays the full 5%.
Setting Withholding and Filing: M-4 and Form 1
Massachusetts withholding is set on Form M-4, which you file when your Massachusetts exemptions differ from your federal W-4. Residents file Form 1 (nonresidents and part-year residents use Form 1-NR/PY), generally due in mid-April, occasionally a day or two later when the Patriots' Day holiday shifts the Massachusetts deadline. Because the rate is a flat 5% (plus the surtax only above roughly $1.1 million), there is little bracket planning to do; the levers that matter are the personal exemption, pre-tax payroll contributions, and, for high earners, keeping an eye on the surtax threshold.
A Massachusetts Paycheck, Line by Line
Take a salary near the Massachusetts median household income, about $99,000, well under the surtax threshold. After the $4,400 personal exemption, roughly $94,600 is taxed at the flat 5%, about $4,730 in state income tax. On top of that comes the 0.46% PFML contribution (about $455) and, of course, federal income tax and FICA. There is no local income tax in Massachusetts, so the state side is the 5% plus the small PFML line. For all its high-tax reputation, a middle-income Massachusetts paycheck is fairly simple once the surtax is off the table.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA) are federal, so they come out the same in Massachusetts as in every other state. The main Paycheck Calculator walks through the full federal side, including the Social Security wage base and the Additional Medicare surtax.