Delaware income tax rates and brackets for 2025 and 2026

Delaware has seven brackets, set in 30 Del. C. §1102 for tax years since 2014 and unchanged for 2025 and 2026. The same brackets apply whether you are single or married; married couples can instead file separate returns, or two separate returns combined on one form, which often lowers the tax when both spouses earn income. A 2025 bill to add higher brackets above $150,000 (HB 13) never left committee.

Each rate applies only to the income inside its bracket, so the tax on exactly $60,000 of taxable income is $2,943.50, and 6.6% applies above that.

A Delaware return starts from federal adjusted gross income and subtracts the Delaware standard deduction, $3,250 per person ($6,500 on a joint return), plus $2,500 for each person who is 65 or older or blind, or itemized deductions; you can itemize in Delaware even if you took the federal standard deduction. After the rates, a personal credit of $110 per person comes off the tax, plus another $110 at age 60 or older.

For example, a single filer with $60,000 of wages has $56,750 of Delaware taxable income after the standard deduction. The tax is about $2,763, and the $110 personal credit brings it to about $2,653, for 2025 or 2026.

The July 2025 federal tax law (Public Law 119-21) created deductions for 2025 through 2028 for qualified tips (up to $25,000), overtime pay (up to $12,500, or $25,000 joint), car loan interest (up to $10,000) and an extra $6,000 for people 65 or older. The Delaware Division of Revenue says the tips, overtime and car loan interest deductions “will not flow through to the Delaware Personal Income Tax”, because Delaware starts from federal AGI and these come after it. The senior deduction is taken at the same point, after AGI.

Delaware does pick up the federal law’s higher cap on state and local tax deductions, $40,000 for 2025, for people who itemize. A 2025 law separates Delaware from 100% bonus depreciation for property placed in service from 2026.

A 2026 law (SB 219, signed August 17, 2026) raises the military pension exclusion to $15,000 for 2027, $20,000 for 2028 and $25,000 from 2029. It also requires people 60 and older to have been Delaware residents for three years (five years for people who move here from 2027) to claim the pension exclusion; check the 2026 instructions for when that test starts.

Nonrefundable credits can only reduce your Delaware tax to zero.

The City of Wilmington charges a 1.25% earned income tax on its residents’ wages, wherever they work, and on nonresidents’ pay for work done in the city, plus 1.25% on net business profits. Employers usually withhold it. It is not part of the state return and does not count for the state credit for taxes paid elsewhere. Nonresidents can apportion days worked outside the city on Form WCWT-5, with an employer letter for work-from-home days.

A resident must file if they must file a federal return, or if Delaware AGI is above the thresholds; for 2025 under age 60, $9,400 single and $15,450 for a joint return. Nonresidents with any Delaware-source income must file. Full-year residents file Form PIT-RES; nonresidents file PIT-NON, which figures the tax as if all income were Delaware income and then charges the Delaware share. Part-year residents can file whichever return is better. Delaware offers free online filing with no income limit.

Delaware returns are due April 30: 2025 returns were due April 30, 2026, and the law sets April 30, 2027 for 2026 returns. Form PIT-EXT extends the time to file to October 15, but not the time to pay.

Check a Delaware refund with the Division of Revenue’s refund status tool at tax.delaware.gov, using your Social Security number or ITIN and the expected refund amount. The Division says it does not send text messages about refunds.

If no extra information is needed, an e-filed refund can arrive in as little as 10 days; returns needing manual review or documents take 10 to 12 weeks. For 2025 returns, no refunds were issued before February 16, 2026. Returns with missing W-2s or 1099-Rs, name or SSN mismatches, business losses or large itemized deductions are often reviewed.

The Division of Revenue says Delaware and Maryland have no reciprocal agreement, and it describes none with other states. A New Jersey or Maryland resident who works in Delaware files PIT-NON and has Delaware tax withheld; a Delaware resident who works in Pennsylvania, Maryland or New Jersey pays that state’s tax and claims the Delaware credit, which does not cover local taxes such as Philadelphia’s wage tax.

You are a Delaware resident if Delaware is your domicile, or if you keep a home here and spend more than 183 days of the year in the state. Someone outside the United States for at least 495 days in 18 consecutive months is not treated as a resident.