Montana Paycheck & Income Tax Calculator

How Montana income tax works

Montana has two rates: 4.7% on the first $47,500 of Montana taxable income for a single filer, and 5.65% on everything above. Filing jointly the band runs to $95,000; for head of household, $71,250.

The part worth understanding is what Montana does before the rates. It starts from federal taxable income — the figure that already has the federal standard deduction taken off. So there is no separate Montana standard deduction to claim and no Montana personal exemption. The department’s own published deductions table lists just two items for the year, an exemption at 65 and over and medical savings account contributions, and neither of the usual allowances appears at all.

In practice that means a single filer shelters the $16,100 federal amount and no more. On $75,000 that leaves $58,900 of Montana taxable income: 4.7% on the first $47,500 is $2,232.50, and 5.65% on the remaining $11,400 is $644.10 — about $2,877 for the year, an effective state rate of roughly 3.8%.

There is no local income tax anywhere in Montana and no employee-side payroll levy, so these figures need nothing added.

What HB 337 changed, and what is still coming

Montana is part-way through a phased change, and 2026 is the middle step rather than the end of it. House Bill 337 of the 2025 session does two things at once, over three tax years:

Most coverage leads on the rate cut. The band widening is worth substantially more.

Hold Montana taxable income at the $58,900 a single filer on $75,000 reaches. Under the 2025 schedule that is $3,221.90 of state tax; under 2026 it is $2,876.60 — a saving of $345.30. Split it and the arithmetic is stark:

• the rate cut, 5.9% to 5.65% on the $37,800 that sat above the old threshold — $94.50
• the band widening, moving $26,400 of income from 5.65% down to 4.7% — $250.80

The threshold change is worth 2.65 times the headline rate cut, and it is the part almost nobody mentions. It also means Montana’s cut is aimed squarely at middle incomes: someone earning under $47,500 of taxable income now pays 4.7% on all of it and gets nothing from the rate reduction at all, while someone far above the threshold gets the rate cut but a fixed dollar benefit from the widening.

For context on how far Montana has come, its 2017 schedule had seven brackets running 1% / 2% / 3% / 4% / 5% / 6% / 6.9%, with the top rate starting at just $17,600 — and the same brackets applied whether you filed singly or jointly. Anything quoting Montana at 6.9%, or 5.9%, or listing more than two rates, is describing an earlier year.

Long-term gains have their own rates

This is the Montana feature most worth knowing about, and it is genuinely rare.

Almost every state that taxes income taxes capital gains as ordinary income, at whatever rate the rest of your income attracts. Montana runs a separate schedule for net long-term capital gains, at markedly lower rates. For tax year 2025 the department published 3.0% and 4.1% against 4.7% and 5.9% on ordinary income — so a long-term gain was taxed at roughly two thirds the rate of a salary.

The mechanics are a little unusual too. Which of the two gains rates applies depends on how your gains compare with your Montana ordinary income, not simply on the size of the gain: once ordinary income already fills the lower band, gains are taxed at the higher of the two gains rates.

The department has not yet published the 2026 gains schedule alongside the 2026 income rates, so the figures above are the most recent official ones rather than this year’s. The calculator on this page models wage income, where the gains schedule does not arise at all.

Take-home pay at every salary in Montana

After federal tax, Montana state tax and FICA. With no local income tax and no state payroll levy, these figures hold anywhere in Montana — Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman and Helena alike.

What lands in your account each payday

On $75,000 a year in Montana, filing single, split across the pay schedules employers actually use.

No sales tax changes the comparison

Every figure on this page is take-home pay, and take-home pay is not the same as what your money buys. In Montana that gap runs in your favor more than almost anywhere.

Montana is one of only five states with no general sales tax, alongside Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon. Some resort communities levy a local option tax on lodging and similar spending, but there is no statewide sales tax on ordinary purchases.

That matters when comparing Montana with its neighbors, because the income tax figures alone are misleading in both directions:

• Wyoming and South Dakota take no income tax at all, so their take-home beats Montana’s outright — but both levy sales tax, which Montana does not.
• Idaho charges a flat 5.3% and applies the full sales tax to groceries, refunding part of it through a per-person credit claimed on the return. A Montanan pays neither.
• North Dakota taxes income at low rates and levies sales tax on top.

Sales tax is a spending tax rather than an income tax, so its effect depends on how much of your income you spend rather than how much you earn — which generally makes its absence worth proportionally more to lower earners. It does not show up in any take-home calculator, Montana’s included, and it is the main reason a straight state-versus-state take-home comparison understates Montana.

Dates that matter for the 2026 tax year

Montana returns (Form 2) are due April 15, 2027, matching the federal deadline. The 2026 rates on this page are the ones that will be reflected on the 2026 Form 2 when it is filed in 2027.

Estimated payments, if required, fall quarterly in April, June, September and the following January. Montana updated its wage withholding tables and Form MW-4 for 2026, so anyone who has not revised an MW-4 recently may be withheld under the old assumptions.

Questions people ask

What is the Montana income tax rate for 2026?

Two rates. 4.7% on the first $47,500 of Montana taxable income for a single filer, $95,000 filing jointly and $71,250 for head of household, then 5.65% above that. The top rate came down from 5.9% on January 1, 2026.

What can I deduct in Montana?

Nothing extra at state level, because Montana starts from federal taxable income — the federal standard deduction of $16,100 for a single filer has already come off before Montana looks at the figure. There is no separate Montana standard deduction and no Montana personal exemption.

What changed for Montana in 2026?

House Bill 337 of the 2025 session. The top rate fell from 5.9% to 5.65%, and the 4.7% band more than doubled, from $21,100 to $47,500 for a single filer. A further step follows in 2027, taking the top rate to 5.4% and the band to $65,000.

Does Montana tax capital gains differently?

Yes, and few states do. Montana applies a separate and lower schedule to net long-term capital gains — 3.0% and 4.1% for tax year 2025, against 4.7% and 5.9% on ordinary income that year. This calculator models wage income, so the gains schedule does not arise.

Does Montana have a sales tax?

No. Montana is one of only five states with no general sales tax, alongside Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon. Some resort communities levy a local option tax, but there is no statewide sales tax on ordinary purchases.

Does any Montana city charge a local income tax?

No. No Montana city or county levies an income tax, so where you live in the state does not change your income tax bill.

Are Montana payroll deductions taken from my paycheck?

Not by the state. Montana unemployment insurance is employer-funded and the state runs no disability or paid family leave program. Beyond the state income tax, the only deductions are federal.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. There is no account, and the salary you type is never sent to a server or stored. It never leaves your device.