Rhode Island State Tax Calculator (2026)

How Rhode Island taxes income

Rhode Island charges 3.75% to 5.99%. State tax is a separate calculation from your federal return rather than a share of it — Rhode Island sets its own schedule and its own definition of taxable income.

• Top marginal rate: 5.99%, reached at $186,450 for a single filer
• Brackets: 3 graduated bands, starting at 3.75%
• Standard deduction: $11,200 single / $22,400 joint
• Personal exemption: $5,250 single, $10,500 joint, $5,250 per dependent (not applied here)

Rate figures are as of January 1, 2026 and come from the published Tax Foundation compilation; they have not been independently checked against Rhode Island Division of Taxation. States do change rates mid-year, so confirm a figure there before relying on it.

What catches people out in Rhode Island

• Rhode Island has 3 brackets for a single filer, running from 3.75% on the first dollar up to 5.99% above $186,450.
• Joint filers use the SAME bracket floors as single filers rather than doubled ones, so two people earning similar amounts reach each rate at half the combined income they would have as individuals. That is a marriage penalty written into the schedule, and it is the opposite of how the federal brackets work.
• The Rhode Island standard deduction is $11,200 for a single filer and $22,400 for a couple filing jointly. It is a separate figure from the federal standard deduction and usually much smaller, so itemising is a decision you make once federally and again for the state.
• Rhode Island's standard deduction, personal exemption and dependency exemption all phase out between $261,000 and $290,800 of modified federal AGI, and none is available above $290,800 (footnote ff).

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 — $5,250 single, $10,500 joint, $5,250 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, Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island 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, so treat this as the general position rather than as Rhode Island's confirmed one, and check the credit rules with Rhode Island Division of Taxation before relying on relief.

Sources

• Tax Foundation — 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets
• Rhode Island Division of Taxation — the authority for Rhode Island