Delaware (DE) Paycheck Calculator 2026

Delaware has its own W-4

Delaware withholding should be based on the Delaware W-4 (DE W-4), the Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate. Delaware created it after the IRS redesigned the federal W-4 in 2020 and dropped withholding allowances, because Delaware still gives personal credits for exemptions. Employers may keep relying on a federal W-4 completed before 2020 if you don't want to change your withholding, but the Division of Revenue says withholding will be more accurate on the Delaware form.

Each allowance reflects one of Delaware's $110 personal credits: one for you, one for a spouse, one per dependent, and an extra one if you are 60 or older.

Worked example: $55,000 in Wilmington vs the rest of Delaware

In Delaware, one city can change your paycheck by a percentage of wages. Only the City of Wilmington levies a wage tax: 1.25% on residents and on non-residents who work in the city. Here is a single worker on $55,000 paid bi-weekly, with the maximum employee share of the paid leave premium:

Delaware Paid Leave deductions

Delaware Paid Leave contributions began on January 1, 2025, and benefits became available on January 1, 2026. The premium is 0.8% of wages, and employers may require employees to pay up to half, or 0.4%, up to the Social Security wage base ($184,500 in 2026). Coverage depends on employer size:

• Nine or fewer Delaware employees: exempt, so no deduction.
• 10 to 24 employees: parental leave only, at a lower premium.
• 25 or more employees: full coverage (parental, family caregiving, own serious health condition and military exigency leave).
• Benefits pay up to 80% of wages, capped at $900 a week, once you have worked for the employer for at least a year and 1,250 hours: up to 12 weeks a year to care for a new child, and up to six weeks every 24 months for a family member's or your own serious health condition or a military deployment.

Cross-border workers: no reciprocity with any state

Delaware has no reciprocal agreements, so commuters from Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey who work in Delaware have Delaware tax withheld on wages for work done in Delaware. They then claim a credit for Delaware tax on their home-state return.

Delaware residents who work in another state for an out-of-state employer are not required to have Delaware tax withheld, but the employer may withhold it if both agree, after first withholding the work state's tax. If your work state's rate is lower than Delaware's, ask for this extra withholding or make estimated payments, because you will owe Delaware the difference.

Bonuses and supplemental pay

Delaware has no flat supplemental rate. When a bonus is paid with regular wages, tax is withheld on the combined amount as one payment. When it is paid separately, the employer annualises your regular pay, adds the bonus, computes the annual tax with and without it, and withholds the difference. That usually means a bonus is withheld near your top Delaware rate.