Payroll tools and source-backed guidance
Maine Paycheck Calculator
Work out Maine take-home pay from gross, pay frequency, filing status and pre-tax deductions. Federal and FICA are estimated for you; enter the ME...
Estimate pay before Maine state and local withholding, then enter the amount from current official state guidance.
Maine 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. The estimate includes a Maine income tax amount only when you enter one, and it never adds the paid family and medical leave premium share allowed by Title 26, section 850-F, which has to be typed in with your other deductions. This calculator is an estimate workspace, not a payroll filing service. Verify every assumption with current official instructions.
Two Maine Lines, Two Different Boxes
A Maine stub can carry two state-side deductions and this tool computes neither. Income tax withholding is what the Maine box wants, lifted from the withholding tables Maine Revenue Services issues for employers, or from the stub covering this same pay period. The paid family and medical leave premium is not income tax and is not Revenue's to collect: it funds the Department of Labor's leave program, and Title 26, section 850-F lets an employer charge the employee a share of it. That share goes under other deductions. Folding the two together leaves the Maine box unreadable and counts the premium twice when the stub already itemizes it.
The W-4ME Default Moves the Number
Maine withholding is driven by Form W-4ME, the Maine Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, and Maine Revenue Services states the fallback plainly: where no valid W-4ME has been provided, the employer withholds as if the employee were single and claiming no allowances, whatever that person's actual filing status. An estimate reasoned from filing status alone therefore will not match such a stub. Find out which certificate your employer holds before deciding what to enter, and use the figure for the pay frequency you selected here, since changing that frequency clears the supplied amounts so a monthly number is never reused for a weekly check.
Frequently asked questions
Does the paid family and medical leave deduction go in the Maine withholding box?
No. The Maine box is for income tax, which Maine Revenue Services administers. The leave premium is a separate charge funding a Department of Labor program, and Title 26, section 850-F is what lets an employer put a share of it on the employee. Enter that share with your other deductions and keep the state box for tax alone, so the estimate does not credit Revenue with money it never collected.
Why is my Maine withholding larger than my filing status would suggest?
Check which certificate your employer holds. Maine Revenue Services instructs employers to withhold as though the employee were single and claiming no allowances when no valid Form W-4ME has been provided, regardless of how that person actually files. A new job, or a certificate never returned, can leave you at that default. Rather than working backwards from a rate, copy the withheld amount from the pay record for that period and enter it.