Mississippi income tax rate for 2025 and 2026, and the path to 3%

Mississippi’s income tax has one bracket above a tax-free first $10,000 of taxable income. House Bill 1 of 2025, the Build Up Mississippi Act, signed March 27, 2025, sets the rate on income over $10,000 at 4.4% for 2025 and 4% for 2026, then lowers it each year to 3% from 2030 (Miss. Code §27-7-5). The Department of Revenue’s 2026 withholding tables use 4%. Married couples filing combined returns each get their own $10,000 at 0%.

From 2031, further cuts can follow, but only if the state’s rainy-day fund is full and General Fund revenue beats the next year’s spending by set margins; the law then reduces the rate by 0.2, 0.25 or 0.3 each year depending on how large the surplus is, and ends the tax when the rate reaches zero.

Mississippi does not start from federal adjusted gross income. Form 80-105 builds Mississippi income line by line, subtracts Mississippi adjustments to reach Mississippi AGI, and then takes off a standard deduction (or itemized deductions) and exemptions. There is no separate rate for capital gains. Itemized deductions follow the federal Schedule A, without state income tax or Mississippi gambling losses, and with the federal $40,000 cap on state and local taxes.

For example, a single filer with $60,000 of wages has $51,700 of taxable income after the $2,300 standard deduction and $6,000 exemption. The tax is 4.4% of the $41,700 over $10,000, about $1,835, for 2025, or 4%, about $1,668, for 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. Mississippi’s 2025 return has no line for any of them, the 2026 session passed no bill adding them, and the Department of Revenue says tips are taxable income in Mississippi. So tips and overtime remain taxed at the Mississippi rate. The only federal change the Mississippi form picks up is the higher $40,000 cap on state and local taxes for itemizers.

No, for most retirees. The Department of Revenue says Social Security, Railroad Retirement and retirement income from federal, state and private retirement systems “are exempt in total”, as long as the retiree has met the plan’s requirements. Early distributions are not retirement income and are taxed, and so is separation pay. VA payments and workers’ compensation are also exempt.

Mississippi has no earned income credit on its return.

A single resident files if gross income is over $8,300 plus $1,500 per dependent; a married couple over $16,600 plus $1,500 per dependent. Anyone with Mississippi tax withheld (other than casino winnings) should file to get it back. Residents file Form 80-105; nonresidents and part-year residents file Form 80-205.

Returns are due April 15, so 2026 returns are due April 15, 2027. For 2025 returns, a statewide winter storm postponement moved filing and payment to June 8, 2026, and taxpayers in Covington, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Pearl River, Stone and Wayne counties have until February 1, 2027 for deadlines that fell in the Tropical Storm Arthur relief period. A federal extension automatically extends the Mississippi return to October 15, but not the payment; pay what you owe with Form 80-106.

Check a Mississippi refund with “Where’s My Refund?” on the Department of Revenue’s Taxpayer Access Point. Its instructions say you need the primary filer’s Social Security number or ITIN, the tax year and the Mississippi AGI from your most recent return. The 24-hour refund line is (601) 923-7801.

The Department says a complete, accurate e-filed return can be refunded in 7 to 10 business days, and asks you to wait ten business days before calling; paper returns take 6 to 8 weeks and amended returns 8 to 10 weeks. Fraud screening can add time, and refunds can be taken for debts such as child support.

You are a Mississippi resident if you keep a home here; servicemembers keep Mississippi residency while on orders elsewhere. Part-year residents file Form 80-205 and are taxed on income earned while living in Mississippi, with deductions and exemptions prorated; nonresidents pay tax on Mississippi-source income. We found no reciprocal agreement in Mississippi’s guidance: residents who work in another state report all income and claim the Form 80-160 credit, and nonresidents’ Mississippi wages are subject to Mississippi withholding.

Nonresidents whose only Mississippi income is casino winnings do not need to file, because the 3% casino tax is final.