District of Columbia Payroll Withholding

Personal income tax

Graduated to 10.75%

Reciprocal agreements

All states

SUI wage base 2026

$9,000

Local income taxes

Income tax withholding

Imposes wage income tax	Yes
Rate structure	Graduated, top marginal rate 10.75%
Withholding certificate	D-4 Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate
Accepts federal Form W-4	No
Convenience-of-the-employer rule	No
Nonresident withholding threshold	From the first dollar DC does not tax nonresident wages at all, so there is no threshold -- a nonresident should have zero DC withholding once Form D-4A is on file. DC residents are withheld on from the first dollar.
Local income taxes	No DC is itself the local jurisdiction; there is no separate sub-DC income tax.

Reciprocity

District of Columbia cannot tax nonresidents at all. Effectively universal, but by federal statute rather than bilateral agreement: the District of Columbia Home Rule Act prohibits DC from taxing the income of nonresidents. Any employee who is not a DC resident files Form D-4A with the employer and no DC withholding is taken; the employer withholds for the employee's state of residence instead. Maryland and Virginia formally list DC as a reciprocal state on their own forms (MW507, VA-4). The 'ALL' entry is a sentinel meaning every state -- handle it explicitly in code rather than treating it as a state code.

States that exempt District of Columbia residents

A District of Columbia resident working in these states files that state's certificate and is taxed only by District of Columbia.

Maryland Virginia

Unemployment insurance and paid leave

Taxable wage base 2026	$9,000 2025 base was $9,000.
New employer rate	2.7%
Experience rate range	1.9% – 7.4%
Experience-rating method	reserve ratio
Employee UI contribution	No
Paid family / medical leave	Yes The DC Paid Family Leave tax is 0.75% of covered wages for 2026 and is 100% EMPLOYER-funded - there is no employee contribution.

Employer registration

Tax agency: DC Office of Tax and Revenue
UI agency: DC Department of Employment Services (DOES)

Sources

otr.cfo.dc.gov · otr.cfo.dc.gov · tax.virginia.gov · oui.doleta.gov · oui.doleta.gov · oui.doleta.gov · dcpaidfamilyleave.dc.gov