Arkansas · rates effective Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026 · verified 2026-08-09
Arkansas Paycheck Calculator 2026
2-3.7% state brackets on taxable wages in Arkansas — no local income tax, no state payroll deduction.
Arkansas rounds your income to the middle of its $100 band before taxing it, then subtracts a flat $29 per exemption from the tax itself. This calculator runs the state's own 2026 formula and reproduces its published example to the cent.
Official 2026 tables, never copiedSources stamped & dated99 golden tests before publish
CEBy the Calceva data desk · Verified against official sources · Updated 2026-08-09 · 3 min read
Jan 1 · 2026 tables take effectJan 1 · top individual income tax rate 3.9% → 3.7%Aug 9 · verified against the official documentAug 23 · 1 of 2 sources re-checked automatically (the rest by hand)
Click any line to see exactly how it is computed, straight from the official documents.
ESTIMATE — NOT A PAY STUB
Educational rendering by Calceva — no employer, no pay-period history. ANNUAL = full-year projection.
Top individual income tax rate3.9%→3.7%effective January 1, 2026
Identical bills HB1001 and SB1, passed in a three-day special session and signed 6 May 2026, cut the top rate RETROACTIVELY to 1 January - so paychecks withheld from January through the spring used the old, higher rate, and the difference reconciles on the return. Our figures follow the DFA withholding formula, which carries the 3.7% rate. Read in Governor of Arkansas, Bills Signed: HB1001, SB1 (6 May 2026).
The auditor’s desk
Audit your actual pay stub
Type what your stub prints; every line is recomputed from the official 2026 formulas, in your browser only.
Educational reconciliation, not tax advice. Withholding legitimately varies with your exact W-4 entries; your final bill is set by your return.
The audit report appears here, line by line, stamped.
$2,470
standard deduction, the same figure whatever your filing status
$50
midrange your income is rounded to before any tax is computed
$29
credit per exemption claimed on your AR4EC - a credit, not a deduction
3.7%
top rate, reached at $26,400 of net taxable income
Arkansas does something no other state does to your paycheck: after subtracting the $2,470 standard deduction, it takes the result to the middle of its $100 band. Earn $23,054 of net taxable income and the state computes on $23,050. That $50 midrange rule applies all the way up to $100,000 - above it, the exact dollar is used. It is the step most calculators skip, and it moves the answer by a few dollars a year.
A percentage of everything, minus a fixed amount
The brackets are not marginal in form. Arkansas multiplies your whole income by the rate of its bracket, then subtracts a fixed adjustment: at 3.4%, that is $23,050 × 3.4% = $783.70 less $287.97. The result is the same as a marginal schedule, but read the table as marginal and you will be wrong. Above $94,700 the adjustment itself slides down by $10 for every $100 of income, over thirty published rows - we encode them exactly as the state prints them.
Exemptions cut the tax, not the income
Each exemption on your AR4EC is worth a flat $29 off your annual tax, whatever you earn. On a $60,000 salary that is the same $29 as on $30,000 - unlike a deduction, it does not scale with your rate.
The state publishes two methods, and they do not agree
Arkansas authorises employers to use either the formula or the wage-bracket tables. They differ: the formula rounds the annual tax to whole dollars before dividing, the tables do not. On the state's own published example - a monthly employee earning $2,127 with 2 exemptions - the formula gives $36.50 a period and the table gives $36.48. This page follows the formula, which is the method the state authorises for computerised payroll and the one its worked example uses.
Why does Arkansas round my income before taxing it?
The formula instructs employers to look the income up at the $50 midrange of its $100 band once net taxable income is below $100,001. So $23,054 is taxed as $23,050. Above $100,000 the exact figure is used.
Are Arkansas brackets marginal?
In effect yes, but not in form. The state multiplies your whole net taxable income by one rate and then subtracts a fixed adjustment for that bracket. The result matches a marginal schedule; reading the percentages as marginal does not.
What is an AR4EC exemption worth?
A flat $29 off your annual tax per exemption - a credit, not a deduction. It is subtracted after the tax is computed and rounded.
Why might my employer withhold two cents less than this page?
Because Arkansas publishes two methods and they disagree. The formula rounds the annual tax before dividing; the wage-bracket tables do not. On the state's own example the gap is $0.02 per period. We follow the formula, the method the state authorises for computerised payroll.
We never copy another calculator. Each rate is read from the official document, dated, and re-checked when agencies publish changes. This page's paper trail:
Verified 2026-08-09
AR DFA, Withholding Tax Formula Method, effective 01/01/2026 (PDF read in full, 4 p.) — Withholding Tax Formula Method, "Effective 01/01/2026": annualise the pay, subtract a $2,470 standard deduction, and if net taxable income is below $100,001 look the income up at the $50 midrange of its $100 band. Tax is computed as a percentage of the whole amount MINUS a fixed adjustment (0% below $5,600; 2% less $111.98; 3% less $223.97; 3.4% less $287.97; 3.7% less $367.16 to $94,700; then a band to $97,601+ whose adjustment falls by $10 per $100 of income, down to $79.90). The annual gross tax is ROUNDED, then $29.00 per exemption claimed on Form AR4EC is subtracted, then the result is divided by the number of pay periods.
Verified 2026-08-09
AR DFA, Withholding Tax Formula Method, page 4 (worked example) — Worked example in the same document: Gary is paid monthly, $2,127 per period, 2 exemptions on his AR4EC. Annual gross pay $25,524; less $2,470 = $23,054 net taxable; taken to the $50 midrange of $23,050; 3.4% bracket gives $23,050 x 3.4% = $783.70, less $287.97 = $495.73 rounded to $496.00; less 2 x $29 = $438.00 annual net tax; divided by 12 = $36.50 withheld per pay period.
Verified 2026-08-09
Governor of Arkansas, Bills Signed: HB1001, SB1, 6 May 2026 — HB 1001 and SB 1, identical bills passed in a three-day special session and signed 6 May 2026, cut Arkansas's top individual income tax rate from 3.9% to 3.7% RETROACTIVE to January 1, 2026 (the corporate cut to 4.1% follows in 2027). Paychecks withheld from January through the spring used the old, higher rate, and the difference reconciles on the return. The DFA withholding formula we encode carries the 3.7% rate.
Federal lines
Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare on this page follow IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, Publication 15 and Publication 15-T, verified 2026-08-07. Our federal engine reproduces 2,175 of 2,175 Publication 15-T cells on every build. The six federal sources, itemised.
Matches the agency
Reproduces the agency’s own published figures. Our implementation of the Arkansas withholding formula reproduces the worked example of Withholding Tax Formula Method (effective 01/01/2026) exactly as the agency prints it, re-checked on every build. Check them in the official PDF.
Cite this pageCalceva, “Arkansas Paycheck Calculator (2026),” verified 2026-08-09, https://calceva.com/arkansas-paycheck-calculator/