Local income tax / West Virginia

2026 tax year · West Virginia

Local income tax in West Virginia

West Virginia's local charges are flat dollar amounts rather than rates, so what you earn does not change them.

A fixed number of dollars for each week you work in the city, not a percentage, so what you earn makes no difference.

The thing that catches people out here

Dollars per week worked, not a percentage. So it costs someone on $30,000 exactly what it costs someone on $300,000.

What the West Virginia levies cost on $80,000

Nothing here scales with income, see below.

Owed, but not computable from income These charges are real and are genuinely owed. They cannot be worked out from what you earn, so no calculator that only knows your income can show them: Working these out needs weeks worked inside the city, the charge does not depend on what you earn, so someone on $30,000 and someone on $300,000 pay exactly the same.

Does it reach self-employment profit?

Yes. In West Virginia the local tax reaches net profit from self-employment, not only wages. No employer withholds it, so it is on you to pay it, usually alongside your quarterly estimates, and it is routinely missed for exactly that reason.

What catches people out in West Virginia

West Virginia’s city fees are a different shape from every other state on this site: a fixed number of dollars for each week you work in the city, regardless of your hours or your earnings. Someone earning $30,000 and someone earning $300,000 pay exactly the same.

Anyone working at a physical location in the city pays, whether they live there or commute in. Self-employed people are liable too, that is confirmed for Huntington.

Watch the name rather than trusting it. Huntington charges two things that sound alike: its City Service Fee is the $5-a-week charge on people who work there, while its Municipal Service Fee is a fire charge on property owners and has nothing to do with wages at all. Other cities use "Municipal Service Fee" to mean the weekly work charge. Check what the fee is actually charged on before assuming which one you owe.

The cities listed here are not an exhaustive list of every West Virginia city charging a fee.

Related

General information about how these taxes work, not tax advice. Local rates change by ordinance and referendum, confirm with your jurisdiction or a tax professional before acting on anything here.