Missouri Paycheck Calculator

Small gaps are normal. Common reasons include:

• Your employer uses a rounding method or payroll table that differs slightly.
• You have a deduction you did not enter, like union dues or a garnishment.
• Your benefit cost changed mid-year.
• You hit the Social Security wage cap and did not enter your YTD gross.

This tool gives a close estimate, not an exact copy of your pay stub. Check your stub for the full list of items taken out.

No. Missouri uses a set of small brackets. The first slice of taxable income is taxed at 0%, then rates step up to a top rate of 4.7%. Only the money inside each bracket gets that bracket's rate, so your average rate is always lower than 4.7%.

Yes. Both cities charge the 1% earnings tax on wages earned inside city limits, even if you live somewhere else. You also owe it if you live in the city and work outside it. Enter the city name in the calculator to include it.

You owe no local income tax. Kansas City and St. Louis are the only two Missouri cities with an earnings tax. Leave the city field blank or type your city, and the calculator will show no local tax.

Yes. Pick Salary to enter a yearly amount or a single paycheck amount. Pick Hourly to enter your wage and hours per pay period. Hourly mode also lets you add overtime hours and an overtime rate.

It depends on your pay, filing status, and deductions. Most Missouri workers lose roughly 20% to 30% of gross pay to federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, and state tax combined. The calculator shows your exact effective tax rate at the top of the page.

Social Security tax stops once your wages for the year pass the wage base. For 2026 that limit is $184,500. Enter your YTD gross earnings so the calculator knows how close you are. Medicare has no cap and keeps coming out all year.

Flat Rate (22%) is used when a bonus is paid on its own check. The employer holds back a straight 22% for federal tax.

Aggregate Method is used when the bonus is added to your normal paycheck. The tax is figured as if that bigger check were your usual pay, which often means more is held back.

Both are just withholding. Your final tax is settled when you file.

Use New Form W-4 (2020+) if you filled out or updated your W-4 in 2020 or later. It uses dollar amounts instead of allowances. Use Old Form W-4 only if your employer still has your pre-2020 form on file with allowances on line 5.

Yes, for income tax. A traditional 401(k) comes out before federal and Missouri income tax, so it lowers your taxable pay. It does not lower Social Security or Medicare tax. Your take-home pay still drops, just by less than the amount you save.

Yes, usually. Medical, dental, vision, FSA, and HSA money taken out through a Section 125 plan lowers the wages used for Social Security and Medicare. That is why the calculator treats them differently from a 401(k), which only lowers income tax.

Enter your new pay rate and put your YTD gross earnings from the old rate in the year-to-date field. The calculator will use the new rate for this check while tracking the Social Security cap against everything you already earned.

It applies a simplified flat state tax rate to each state while keeping your federal tax, FICA, and deductions the same. That shows a rough side-by-side of yearly take-home pay. It does not include city taxes, state-specific deductions, or bracket details, so treat it as a rough guide only.

Yes. Run your current setup, then compare the annual federal tax number to what you actually owed last year. If withholding is much higher, you are giving the IRS a free loan. If it is much lower, you may owe in April. Adjust Step 4c or Step 3 on your W-4 to fine-tune it.

Bi-weekly means every two weeks, which is 26 checks a year. Semi-monthly means twice a month, which is 24 checks a year. Same yearly pay, but bi-weekly checks are smaller and you get two extra of them. Two months a year you will see three bi-weekly checks.

Anyone you claim as a dependent on your tax return. Each one cuts $1,200 from your Missouri taxable income. Enter the count in the Dependents field. This is separate from federal dependent credits, which you enter as a dollar amount in W-4 Step 3.

Only if you still have a pre-2019 Missouri W-4 on file. Missouri dropped allowances from its current form. If you filled out your MO W-4 in 2019 or later, leave both allowance fields at 0.

Probably not. Exemption applies only if you had no Missouri tax liability last year and expect none this year. Some military and out-of-state workers also qualify. Do not switch on the exempt options unless your MO W-4 says you are exempt, or you may owe a large bill later.

Yes, partly. Check the Step 2 box in the federal section. That cuts your standard deduction in half and uses a doubled bracket method, which raises withholding so you are less likely to owe. Run each job separately to see the full picture.

It does not drop. Overtime always adds money. What changes is the percentage held back, because a bigger check pushes more income into higher withholding tiers. Your net pay still goes up, just not by the full overtime amount.

Federal standard deductions and bracket cutoffs rise each year with inflation, and the Social Security wage base went from $176,100 in 2025 to $184,500 in 2026. Missouri bracket rates stayed the same. Set your check date to control which year the tool uses.

Yes. Open Post-Tax Deductions, click Add Post-Tax Deduction, name it, and enter a dollar amount, a percent of gross, or a percent of net. These come out after taxes, so they lower take-home pay without lowering your tax.

No. All math runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent to a server.

• Review your W-4 if you get a large refund every year.
• Claim dependents on Step 3 if you qualify.
• Drop deductions you do not use, like extra life insurance.
• Move health costs to a pre-tax plan if your employer offers one.
• Check if the city earnings tax really applies to your work location.

Test each change in the calculator before you file a new W-4.