Montana (MT) Paycheck Calculator 2026

How Montana withholding works in 2026

Montana employers withhold state income tax using the information you give them on Form MW-4, the Montana Employee’s Withholding and Exemption Certificate. For 2026 the Department of Revenue rebuilt the withholding method so it closely resembles the federal one: Montana-specific allowances are gone, and the calculation relies on the federal standard deduction amounts instead.

That change matters if you have not touched your MW-4 in years. An old certificate that claimed several allowances no longer maps cleanly onto the new formula, so the Department recommends employees review and, if needed, file an updated MW-4 for 2026. You can still ask for a flat extra dollar amount per paycheck, which is the simplest fix if you have side income or a working spouse.

Because Montana taxable income now starts from federal taxable income, your paycheck withholding follows the same logic: roughly the first $16,100 of a single filer’s annual wages is sheltered by the standard deduction, the next $47,500 is taxed at 4.7%, and only wages above about $63,600 reach the 5.65% top rate.

Example Montana paychecks

The table shows bi-weekly paychecks under four common situations. The minimum-wage row assumes 2,080 hours at Montana’s 2026 rate of $10.85 an hour, which applies to businesses with gross annual sales over $110,000. The married row includes two children under 17 and a $6,000 pre-tax 401(k) contribution.

• At $58,000 a single worker’s Montana withholding is about $76 per check — every dollar of it at the 4.7% rate, because taxable income stays under $47,500.
• At $120,000, roughly $56,400 of wages sits in the 5.65% bracket, and Montana takes about $208 per check.
• There is no Montana deduction for state disability or paid family leave, so the state line on your stub is income tax only.

What is not on a Montana pay stub

Montana has no local income taxes, no employee-paid disability insurance and no employee-paid family leave premium. Unemployment insurance is funded by employers. That makes Montana paychecks unusually simple: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and one state income-tax line.

Montana also has no general sales tax, though some resort communities levy local resort taxes. That does not affect your paycheck, but it does mean more of your take-home pay goes further at the register than in neighboring states with sales taxes.

Working across the North Dakota line

Montana and North Dakota have an income tax reciprocity agreement. If you live in Montana and work in North Dakota, your wages are exempt from North Dakota withholding when you give your employer Form NDW-R, the Reciprocity Exemption from Withholding for Qualifying Minnesota and Montana Residents Working in North Dakota.

The form must reach your employer by February 28, or within 30 days of starting work or changing your permanent address, and it has to be renewed every year. Without it, your North Dakota employer will withhold North Dakota tax and you will have to file a North Dakota return to recover it while still owing Montana tax on the same wages.

Montana minimum wage and pay periods

Montana’s basic minimum wage is $10.85 an hour in 2026 for businesses with more than $110,000 in gross annual sales; smaller businesses not covered by federal law may pay $4.00. Overtime at time-and-a-half applies after 40 hours in a week.

Montana law does not set a fixed payday frequency, but if an employer has not established a pay period, it is presumed to be semimonthly. If you are paid semimonthly rather than bi-weekly, divide the annual figures above by 24 instead of 26.

Planning ahead for the 2027 rate cut

A second step of HB 337 takes effect in 2027: the top rate falls to 5.4% and the 4.7% bracket widens to $65,000 for single filers and $130,000 for joint filers. Withholding tables will change again on January 1, 2027, so a raise or bonus planned for early 2027 will be taxed at the lower rate. Revisit your MW-4 when the new tables are published.