The Delaware state withholding tax table is a seven-bracket graduated schedule that runs from 0% on the first $2,000 of annualized taxable wages up to 6.6% on amounts above $60,000. Employers apply it to annualized wages after subtracting the standard deduction, then reduce the resulting tax by $110 for each personal exemption the employee claims on a Delaware W-4. The rates have been in place since 2014 and apply to both residents and nonresidents earning wages in Delaware.
The Seven Brackets
Each bracket has a base dollar amount plus a marginal rate that applies to earnings above the bracket floor:
- $0 to $2,000: no tax
- $2,000 to $5,000: 2.20% of the amount over $2,000
- $5,000 to $10,000: $66.00 plus 3.90% of the amount over $5,000
- $10,000 to $20,000: $261.00 plus 4.80% of the amount over $10,000
- $20,000 to $25,000: $741.00 plus 5.20% of the amount over $20,000
- $25,000 to $60,000: $1,001.00 plus 5.55% of the amount over $25,000
- $60,000 and above: $2,943.50 plus 6.60% of the amount over $60,000
The arithmetic is the same in every row: take the base, add the marginal rate multiplied by the difference between the employee’s annualized taxable wages and the bracket’s lower threshold.1Division of Revenue – State of Delaware. Employer’s Guide (Withholding Regulations and Employer’s Duties) For annualized taxable income up to $60,000, the Division of Revenue publishes lookup tables built on the midpoint of $50 wage ranges, so you can match a wage amount to a row and read the figure directly instead of doing the calculation by hand.2Division of Revenue – State of Delaware. Tax Rate Changes
What You Need Before You Open the Table
A Delaware W-4
Every employee should submit a Delaware W-4 (sometimes called the DE-W4). Delaware kept the personal exemption system after the federal W-4 dropped allowances, so the state form is where you collect marital status and the number of exemptions the employee claims.3State of Delaware Division of Revenue. Delaware W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate If an employee never submits one, you may fall back on the number of federal withholding exemptions claimed, though the fallback works less cleanly now that the federal form has changed.4Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code 30 – Section 1151 Employer to Withhold Tax From Wages or Other Remuneration
Standard Deduction and Exemption Credit
Two numbers do separate jobs. The standard deduction is $3,250 for a single filer and $6,500 for married filing jointly, and it reduces annualized wages before you enter the bracket table. The personal exemption credit is $110 per exemption, and it reduces the tax after you calculate the bracket amount.1Division of Revenue – State of Delaware. Employer’s Guide (Withholding Regulations and Employer’s Duties) Reversing the order is a common mistake that distorts every paycheck.
Pay Frequency
You also need to know how often the employee is paid. The tables run on annualized figures, so you convert the per-period gross up to a yearly number, calculate, and convert back. Use 52 pay periods for weekly, 26 for biweekly, 24 for semimonthly, and 12 for monthly.
How to Calculate Withholding for a Single Paycheck
The sequence runs the same way every time:
- Multiply the employee’s gross pay for the period by the number of pay periods in the year to get annualized gross wages.
- Subtract the standard deduction ($3,250 single, $6,500 married filing jointly). That gives you annualized taxable income.
- Find the row in the bracket table where that income falls.
- Add the base amount for the bracket to the marginal rate multiplied by the income above the bracket floor.
- Subtract $110 times the number of exemptions on the Delaware W-4.
- Divide by the number of pay periods in the year. That is the amount to withhold.
A worked example makes the mechanics concrete. A single employee earns $50,000 a year and claims two exemptions. Annualized taxable income is $46,750 after the $3,250 standard deduction. That falls in the $25,000 to $60,000 bracket, so the tax is $1,001.00 plus 5.55% of $21,750, which is $1,001.00 plus $1,207.13, or $2,208.13. Subtract $220 in exemption credits (2 × $110) and the annualized withholding is $1,988.13. Divided by 26 biweekly pay periods, that is roughly $76.47 per paycheck.1Division of Revenue – State of Delaware. Employer’s Guide (Withholding Regulations and Employer’s Duties)
Bonuses, Commissions, and Other Supplemental Wages
Delaware does not offer a flat supplemental rate. How you calculate withholding on a bonus or commission depends on how it is paid.
If the supplemental amount is included in the same check as regular wages, treat the full combined check as a single payment and run the normal annualize-and-withhold sequence on the total.
If the supplemental amount is paid in a separate check, you run the calculation twice. First, annualize the employee’s regular wages and calculate the tax. Then add the supplemental payment to those annualized regular wages and calculate the tax again on the higher figure. The difference between the two tax amounts is what you withhold from the supplemental check.1Division of Revenue – State of Delaware. Employer’s Guide (Withholding Regulations and Employer’s Duties) Because the method annualizes the bonus as if the employee received it every pay period, the resulting withholding on a one-time bonus is often larger than employees expect.
Employees Who Live Out of State
The same table applies whether the employee lives in Delaware or commutes in from another state. Delaware has no reciprocal tax agreements, so wages earned in Delaware by residents of Pennsylvania, Maryland, or New Jersey are still subject to Delaware withholding.5Delaware Division of Revenue. Withholding Tax FAQs
Delaware also applies a convenience-of-the-employer rule. If an employee’s job is based in Delaware but the employee works from home in another state for personal convenience rather than because the employer requires the remote arrangement, those remote days are still treated as Delaware-source wages subject to withholding.6State of Delaware Division of Revenue. Treatment of Wages From Remote Work The practical effect is that remote workers can face withholding to both Delaware and their home state, and whether the double hit washes out depends on whether the home state gives a full credit for taxes paid to Delaware.