Massachusetts Tax

For Massachusetts residents, you specify the employee's status and exemptions.

Deltek Modification Date - 1/18/19

Enter the following field information for residents of Massachusetts on the Withholding grid on the Payroll tab of the Employees hub:

Field Description
Status Enter the marital status claimed by the employee:
  • S: Single
  • M: Married
  • H: Head of Household

Head of Household is the only status currently in use.

Exemptions Enter the total number of exemptions claimed by the employee on line 4 of the Massachusetts Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate, Form M-4. If the employee did not submit Form M-4, use the total number of regular exemptions claimed by the employee for federal income tax purposes on Form W-4.
Other Exemptions Enter the total number of blind exemptions claimed by the employee on line 5 of the Massachusetts Employee’s Withholding Exemption Certificate, Form M-4. If the employee did not submit Form M-4, do not make an entry in this field.

Supplemental Wages

Supplemental (bonus run) wages are taxed at 5.05%.

Automatically Calculated Variables

DPS automatically computes the following variables.

Allowance

The allowance is based on the number of exemptions in the first Exemptions field. It is determined as follows:

$3,400 + ($1,000.00 x number of exemptions)

If the number of exemptions is zero, no allowance is made.

Credit

The credit is based on the number of blind exemptions entered in the Other Exemptions field. It is determined by multiplying the number of other exemptions by $111.10.

If an employee claims one or more exemptions in the Exemptions field and the employee’s taxable income is less than $8,000, no tax is withheld.

A head of household credit of $121.20 is given if the employee’s status is H.

How DPS Calculates Tax

To calculate an employee's Massachusetts State tax, DPS does the following:

  1. Multiplies the employee's gross pay per pay period by the number of pay periods in a year to determine annualized gross wages.
  2. Subtracts the amount withheld for FICA (up to $2,000 annually), Massachusetts, U.S., or railroad retirement systems, the allowance, and any 401(k) and 125/Cafeteria plan contributions from the employee's annualized gross wages to determine taxable income.
  3. Calculates the computed tax by applying Tax Calculation Method 2 to the taxable income, applying a percentage of 5.05%.
  4. Subtracts a credit (if applicable) from the computed tax, to determine the net income tax withholding.
  5. Divides the net income tax by the number of pay periods in a year to determine the amount to be withheld for the pay period.