Payroll tools and source-backed guidance
Kentucky Paycheck Calculator
Work out Kentucky take-home pay from gross, pay frequency, filing status and pre-tax deductions. Federal and FICA are estimated for you; enter the KY...
Estimate pay before Kentucky state and local withholding, then enter the amount from current official state guidance.
Kentucky state withholding is not calculated automatically. Enter the amount for this pay period from an official worksheet or genuine payroll record to include it; leave it blank to see pay before state withholding. You can enter a known local withholding amount separately. This estimate applies 2026 federal assumptions and subtracts Kentucky and local amounts strictly as you enter them, so it reflects neither your Form K-4 elections nor any city or county occupational license fee unless those figures are already in the boxes you filled. This calculator is an estimate workspace, not a payroll filing service. Verify every assumption with current official instructions.
A Flat Rate Is Not the Whole Method
Kentucky does not produce your state figure here, and multiplying gross pay by the flat rate will not reproduce it either. Wages are first stepped down by the standard deduction allowance KRS 141.081(2)(a) has the Department of Revenue reset for each tax year, nothing is added back for personal exemptions, and the Form K-4 (42A804) your employer holds shapes what is left. Revenue's own answer for employers is a calculator it publishes as a spreadsheet, built to give the correct Kentucky amount employee by employee. Take the result from that, or the Kentucky line on a stub for this same period, and type it into the Kentucky box. Left empty, the total above is pay before Kentucky tax.
The Local Fee Revenue Does Not Collect
A second wage charge can sit under the state line, levied by a city or county rather than by Kentucky, and collected by that jurisdiction rather than the Department of Revenue. Louisville Metro, for one, requires employers to withhold its occupational license fee from compensation earned for work performed inside Louisville Metro and to remit it to the Metro Revenue Commission, which sets one level for employees who live there and another for those who only work there. Put any such amount in the local withholding box for the same pay period, never inside the Kentucky box and never repeated under other deductions.
Frequently asked questions
Kentucky has one flat rate, so why can't the calculator work out my state tax?
Because the rate is the last step, not the method. Before it applies, wages are reduced by the standard deduction allowance KRS 141.081(2)(a) has Revenue reset every tax year, nothing is added back for personal exemptions, and the Form K-4 held for you shapes the outcome. A city or county occupational license fee can sit underneath as well. Revenue publishes a spreadsheet calculator so employers can run this per employee; enter what that or your stub produces, never a rate applied to gross pay.
I live in one Kentucky city and work in another. Which local amount belongs here?
The amount your employer actually withholds for that pay period, read off your pay record. Occupational license fees are imposed by individual cities and counties, so the rules and the collector change with the jurisdiction, and a place like Louisville Metro distinguishes people who live there from people who only work there. Confirm with the local collector, the Metro Revenue Commission in Louisville's case, instead of assuming your home city's line applies.