North Dakota pay stubs: state taxes and withholding

State income tax

North Dakota has one of the lightest state income taxes in the country. It is graduated, but with only a few steps: the first slice of taxable income is taxed at zero, and for 2026 the rates above that are 1.95% and 2.5%. The Office of State Tax Commissioner publishes withholding tables each year that employers use to turn those annual rates into a per-paycheck amount.

Because the zero bracket is fairly wide, part-time and lower-wage employees often see very little North Dakota tax withheld, and sometimes none at all in a given pay period. That is normal and not a calculation error. North Dakota's withholding formula works from the information on the employee's federal Form W-4, so there is usually no separate state form to collect.

Other state payroll deductions

North Dakota does not run a state disability insurance program or a paid family leave payroll program, so nothing extra is deducted for those. State unemployment insurance is funded by employers, not withheld from employee pay. Voluntary items such as health insurance premiums, retirement contributions or union dues still show up as their own lines when they apply.

Local taxes

There are no city, county or school district income taxes in North Dakota. Where someone lives or works inside the state does not change what is withheld.

Federal withholding still applies

Federal payroll taxes make up most of the deductions on a North Dakota stub:

• Federal income tax, based on the employee's Form W-4.
• Social Security at 6.2% of wages up to the annual Social Security wage base.
• Medicare at 1.45% of all wages, plus an additional 0.9% on wages above $200,000 in a year.

Creating a North Dakota pay stub with PayStubNest

With PayStubNest you enter hourly pay and hours worked, or a salary and pay frequency, and choose North Dakota as the work state. The exact figures on each stub depend on the employee's pay, pay frequency, W-4 choices, deductions and year-to-date totals, and PayStubNest calculates all of it automatically: federal withholding, North Dakota income tax and year-to-date totals that carry forward from one stub to the next so every period lines up. You can preview the stub for free and only pay when you download it. Our guides walk through each field if you are setting up payroll records for the first time.

Record-keeping tip

With such low state rates, small mistakes in the year-to-date column are easy to overlook. Check that each new stub's YTD figures equal the previous stub plus the current period, and keep copies of every stub alongside the employee's W-4. For questions about what a pay statement must show, check with North Dakota Labor and Human Rights or see our FAQ.