District of Columbia (DC) Paycheck Calculator 2026

D-4 or D-4A: which DC form you file

Your DC paycheck depends first on where you live, not where you work. DC residents file Form D-4, the DC Withholding Allowance Certificate, with their employer, and DC income tax is withheld from every check. Workers who live in Maryland, Virginia or anywhere else file Form D-4A, the Certificate of Nonresidence, and their employer withholds no DC income tax at all.

You qualify to file the D-4A if your permanent residence is outside DC for the whole year and you do not live in DC for 183 days or more, or if you are the spouse of a service member. If you later move into the District, you must give your employer a D-4 promptly so DC tax starts being withheld.

• A commuter from Arlington or Silver Spring has their home state's income tax withheld instead, at their home state's rates.
• If DC tax was withheld from you by mistake while you were a nonresident, you get it back by filing Form D-40B, Nonresident Request for Refund, with your W-2s. From tax year 2025 the D-40B can be filed online through MyTax.DC.gov.

Example DC paychecks for residents

For a DC resident, the only payroll deductions are federal income tax, FICA and DC income tax. DC Paid Family Leave is funded entirely by employers, and unemployment insurance is also employer-paid. Single filer, bi-weekly pay, no pre-tax deductions:

• Above $60,000 of taxable income, each extra dollar is taxed at 8.5% by DC, on top of the federal rate, which is why DC's tax bite grows quickly through the middle of the salary range.

The 183-day rule for people who move to DC

DC has a "statutory resident" rule that catches people who keep a home elsewhere. If you maintain a place of abode in DC for an aggregate of 183 days or more in a year, you are a full-year DC resident for tax purposes, even if your domicile is in another state, and the days do not need to be consecutive. Vacations, business trips and hospital stays count as days in DC.

That matters for interns, political appointees, contractors and anyone on a long assignment. If you will cross 183 days, switch to a D-4 so tax is withheld through the year, rather than facing a full year of DC tax on your D-40 in April. According to the D-40 booklet, the state where a statutory resident is domiciled gives the credit for the tax paid to DC.

Who does not have to file a DC return

The D-40 instructions list several groups who do not have to file a DC return as long as they are not domiciled in the District:

• Elected members of the US government who are not domiciled in DC.
• Staff of a member of Congress who are bona fide residents of the same state as the member.
• Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate who serve at the President's pleasure and were not domiciled in DC.
• Justices of the US Supreme Court not domiciled in DC.