New Jersey income tax rates and brackets for 2026

For 2026, New Jersey taxes single filers, and married or civil union partners filing separately, at seven rates: 1.4%, 1.75%, 3.5%, 5.525%, 6.37%, 8.97% and 10.75%. Each rate applies only to the part of your New Jersey taxable income inside its bracket, and the 10.75% rate applies only to taxable income over $1 million. The Division of Taxation’s 2026 estimated tax instructions list the same schedule New Jersey used for 2025. The rates were last changed by a 2020 law, which moved the start of the 10.75% rate from $5 million down to $1 million.

As an example, a single filer with $100,000 of New Jersey taxable income in 2026 pays 1.4% on the first $20,000, 1.75% on the next $15,000, 3.5% on the next $5,000, 5.525% on the next $35,000 and 6.37% on the last $25,000. That adds up to $4,243.75 before credits, about 4.2% of taxable income, even though the top bracket reached is 6.37%.

The last column follows the Division’s own rate schedule: multiply taxable income by the rate for its bracket, then subtract the amount shown. For $100,000 that is $6,370 minus $2,126.25, the same $4,243.75. On the return itself, taxable income under $100,000 is looked up in the Division’s tax table instead.

Married or civil union couples filing jointly, heads of household and qualifying widow(er)s/surviving civil union partners use a second schedule with eight rates. It is not the single schedule doubled: the lower brackets are wider, there is an extra 2.45% bracket from $50,000 to $70,000, and the 8.97% and 10.75% rates apply above the same $500,000 and $1 million as for single filers.

You generally use your federal filing status. A couple filing a joint federal return must file a joint New Jersey return, and a couple filing separately for federal purposes files separately in New Jersey. Partners in a civil union file with the same statuses as married couples, so their New Jersey status may not match their federal one.

For example, a married couple filing jointly with $150,000 of taxable income in 2026 is in the 5.525% bracket. Their tax is $150,000 times 5.525%, or $8,287.50, minus $2,775, which comes to $5,512.50 before credits, about 3.7% of taxable income.

New Jersey does not start from your federal adjusted gross income. Its Gross Income Tax has its own categories of income, each on its own line of Form NJ-1040: wages, interest, dividends, business profits, gains from selling property, pensions and IRA withdrawals, partnership and S corporation income, rents and royalties, gambling winnings, alimony and other income. A net loss in one category cannot reduce income in another, so gambling losses cannot be subtracted from wages, for example.

The categories do not match federal income item by item. The 2025 instructions list what is exempt, including Social Security, state unemployment benefits, New Jersey Family Leave Insurance benefits, New Jersey Lottery prizes of $10,000 or less, and interest on New Jersey and U.S. government bonds. Interest on other states’ municipal bonds is taxed, and so is pay a resident earns working abroad. Employee contributions to 403(b), 457 and federal Thrift Savings Plan accounts are taxed in the year you earn the pay, while 401(k) contributions up to the federal limit are not, which is why New Jersey wages in box 16 of a W-2 can be higher than federal wages in box 1.

The July 2025 tax law (Public Law 119-21) created federal deductions for tips, overtime and seniors for 2025 through 2028. They do not carry over. The Division of Taxation says that because New Jersey’s tax is not computed from federal adjusted gross income, those deductions “do not affect” a New Jersey return, so tips and overtime pay stay in New Jersey wages. New Jersey’s own age breaks still apply, such as the extra $1,000 exemption at 65 listed below and the retirement income exclusions from 62.

New Jersey does not tax Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits, or U.S. military pensions and survivor benefits. Pensions, annuities, 401(k) distributions and IRA withdrawals are taxable, but the New Jersey amount can differ from the federal one: contributions New Jersey taxed when you made them, such as to an IRA, are not taxed again when they come out.

The pension exclusion takes some or all of that income out of tax. You qualify if you, or your spouse on a joint return, were 62 or older or disabled under Social Security guidelines at the end of the year, and your total income for the year was $150,000 or less. If only one spouse qualifies, only that spouse’s pension income can be excluded. The Division lists $150,000 as the current income limit, and its 2026 estimated tax instructions repeat it.

Two more exclusions apply from age 62, both described in the 2025 instructions. The other retirement income exclusion lets you use any unused part of your pension exclusion against other income, such as interest and dividends, if your wages, business profits and partnership and S corporation income total $3,000 or less. A special exclusion, $6,000 on a joint, head of household or qualifying widow(er) return or $3,000 otherwise, is for people who can never receive Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits because their employer took part in neither program.

If your main home in New Jersey is subject to property tax, and you pay it directly as an owner or through rent, the income tax return offers one of two benefits. For 2025 you can deduct the property taxes you paid, up to $15,000, from taxable income, or take a refundable credit of $50. Renters count 18% of the rent they paid as property tax, and the NJ-1040 worksheet points you to the deduction when it saves at least $50.

To claim either one, your gross income must be above the filing threshold, unless you or your spouse were 65 or older, or blind or disabled. In that case you can claim the $50 credit with lower income, on Form NJ-1040 or on Form NJ-1040-HW. A vacation or second home does not qualify, and neither does a rental in a building exempt from property tax.

ANCHOR and Stay NJ are separate property tax relief programs, claimed through their own applications rather than on the income tax return. For the 2025 benefit year, ANCHOR’s income limits are $250,000 of New Jersey gross income for homeowners and $150,000 for renters. Stay NJ is for homeowners 65 or older: under the budget signed June 30, 2026, its 2025 benefit is limited to incomes of $200,000 or less, with annualized maximums of $6,500, $5,000 or $4,000 by income, paid in February and May 2027. Applications for both are due November 2, 2026.

Both credits are refundable, so they can pay you money even when you owe no tax. For 2025 the New Jersey Earned Income Tax Credit (NJEITC) is 40% of your federal earned income credit. New Jersey drops the federal age limits: a resident 18 or older without a qualifying child who misses the federal credit only because of age can still claim the NJEITC, which was $260 for 2025. You, your spouse and any qualifying child need valid Social Security numbers, and you claim it on Form NJ-1040 even if your income is below the filing threshold.

The New Jersey Child Tax Credit is per child age 5 or younger at the end of the year, for residents with New Jersey taxable income of $80,000 or less. A law signed with the budget on June 30, 2026 (P.L.2026, c.26) raises every tier by 25% for tax years 2026 through 2028, so the top credit goes from $1,000 to $1,250 per child. Married couples must file jointly to claim it, unless they file as head of household or surviving spouse federally; a Social Security number or an ITIN works; and part-year residents get a share based on their months in New Jersey.

For 2026, you must file a New Jersey return if your gross income from everywhere for the whole year is more than $10,000 as a single filer or married/civil union partner filing separately, or more than $20,000 on a joint, head of household or qualifying widow(er) return. Income New Jersey exempts, such as Social Security, does not count. Below those amounts, file anyway if New Jersey tax was withheld from your pay or you qualify for a refundable credit such as the NJEITC.

Returns for 2026 are due April 15, 2027, the same day as the federal return. New Jersey gives six more months to file, to October 15, 2027, but only if at least 80% of your tax is paid by April 15. If you have a federal extension and withholding and estimated payments already cover 80%, you need no separate New Jersey form: fill in the federal extension oval on the return, and enclose a copy of the federal request if you filed it on paper. Otherwise file Form NJ-630 by April 15, with any payment needed to reach 80%.

An extension never gives more time to pay. If you miss the 80% test, the Division denies the extension after you file and charges penalties and interest from the original due date. For 2026, residents and nonresidents alike make estimated payments if they expect to owe more than $400 after withholding and credits.

There is no part-year resident return. In the year you move in or out, you file Form NJ-1040 for the months you lived in New Jersey, reporting income from everywhere for that period, and Form NJ-1040NR if you had New Jersey income during the other months. The filing test uses your income for the whole year, and exemptions, deductions, credits and retirement exclusions are prorated by months of residence, with 15 days or more counting as a month. On Form NJ-1040NR the tax is figured on all your income as if you were a resident, then multiplied by the share that came from New Jersey.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania have a reciprocal agreement for employee pay. A New Jersey resident’s salary, wages, tips, bonuses and commissions from a Pennsylvania job are taxed only by New Jersey, so there is no Pennsylvania tax to take a credit for; give your employer Pennsylvania’s Form REV-419EX to stop Pennsylvania withholding, or file a Pennsylvania return to get back tax withheld in error. The agreement covers employee pay only, not self-employment income or gains on property, and it does not cover Philadelphia’s wage tax or other local Pennsylvania taxes, for which you may be able to claim New Jersey’s credit.

New York works differently. It taxes nonresidents on New York-source income, such as pay for work done in New York State, on Form IT-203, and its tax department says that if your primary office is in New York State, “your days telecommuting are considered days worked in the state” unless your employer has established a bona fide employer office at your telecommuting location. New Jersey still taxes all of a resident’s income and gives a credit on Schedule NJ-COJ: the smaller of the New York tax on the income both states taxed and the New Jersey tax on that income. New York City’s income tax applies only to city residents.