Massachusetts State Tax Calculator (2026)

How Massachusetts taxes income

Massachusetts charges 5% flat, plus 9% above $1,107,750. State tax is a separate calculation from your federal return rather than a share of it — Massachusetts sets its own schedule and its own definition of taxable income.

• Rate: 5% on most income
• Surtax: 4% additional above $1,107,750, giving a 9% top rate
• Standard deduction: None — a personal exemption applies instead
• Personal exemption: $4,400 single / $8,800 joint, plus $1,000 per dependent

Rate figures are as of January 1, 2026 and were checked against Massachusetts Department of Revenue on 2026-09-28 — 2026 surtax threshold $1,107,750 against the Massachusetts DOR Tax Rates page and the 2026 Form 2-ES. Massachusetts can still change them mid-year.

What catches people out in Massachusetts

• The surtax threshold is measured on annual taxable income including capital gains, so a one-off sale can trigger it in a year when your recurring income would not. Timing a large disposal across two tax years is a real planning point in Massachusetts.
• The surtax threshold is indexed annually, so the figure moves. It applies to the amount above the threshold, not to your whole income.
• Massachusetts does not follow federal treatment on every category of income and has its own rules for certain short-term capital gains and interest. Carrying federal figures straight across is not reliable.
• Massachusetts and its neighbours generate a lot of cross-border filing. Working in one New England state while living in another routinely means two returns plus a resident credit.
• The 4% surtax threshold used here is the tax year 2026 figure of $1,107,750, taken from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue directly rather than from the compilation, which still carries the 2025 figure of $1,083,150. The threshold is indexed every year, so a source that does not name the tax year is not usable for it. The rates also exclude the paid family and medical leave payroll tax, for which employers withhold 0.46% of eligible wages and employers with 25 or more employees contribute a further 0.42% (footnote rr).

What this estimate leaves out

Three things are deliberately outside this calculation, because they change more often than annually and a confident wrong number does real damage on a tax page.

• The personal exemption — $4,400 single, $8,800 joint, $1,000 per dependent — is not applied, so the figure runs slightly high.
• Local and city income tax is not included. New York City is the significant one nationally.
• State-specific credits, subtractions and income addbacks are out of scope and can move the result either way.

If you have income in India, Massachusetts is where treaty relief runs out

States are not parties to the India-US tax treaty, and a state credit for "taxes paid to other jurisdictions" almost always means other US states rather than other countries.

So NRO interest, Indian rental income or a gain on Indian shares can be taxed by Massachusetts with no credit for the Indian tax deducted at source — even though Form 1116 largely neutralises that same tax federally.

The treatment is not uniform across states, and it has been verified individually rather than assumed. The state guide sets out this state's position with the primary source behind it.

Sources

• Tax Foundation — 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets
• Massachusetts Department of Revenue — the authority for Massachusetts