Mississippi Payroll Instructions

For more about Goldenseal payroll accounting software, click here.
For US Federal payroll withholding instructions, click here.
To download free updates for Mississippi and federal payroll tax tables, click here.

Mississippi has five state payroll withholding tax tables (including a special 'zero deduction' tax table for those not claiming any exemptions). State withholding rates did not change in 2005 (withholding formulas have changed 3 times in the past 15 years).

HINT-- Turtle Creek Software provides free annual updates for US federal and Mississippi tax withholding rates.

Mississippi State Withholding Instructions

To enter withholding information for an employee, follow these steps:

Choose Employees from the Accounts menu.
Locate the employee record.
Enter the employee's marital status into the Marital Status field (see note below).
Enter the number of federal dependents into the Federal Exemptions field.
Enter the number of Mississippi state dependents into the State Exemptions field.

State Unemployment Tax Instructions

In 2005, the Mississippi SUTA tax applies to the first $7000 in wages for each employee. The starting rate is 2.7% for a new business. After the first year, the rate depends on past experience.

To enter your Mississippi state SUTA tax rate into the Goldenseal payroll software, follow these steps:

Choose Payroll Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Tax Items from the submenu.
You'll see a list of Tax Items. Locate the Mississippi SUTA tax in the list, and double-click on it. HINT: If you don't see SUTA in the list, you'll need to import the Mississippi state payroll info first.
Enter the percentage rate that you pay into the field to the right of Calculation method.
If the cutoff amount has changed, enter it into the field to the right of First Adjustment.

Marital Status

Enter each employee's marital status into the Marital Status field in the employee record. Choose one of the following:

Single- single employee
Married- married employee, one income
Dual Income- married employee, dual income
Head of House- unmarried head of household
Other- claiming zero deductions

If your employee’s marital status is married, filing jointly, you may need to make adjustments to the Mississippi Married 2 Income Tax Table. Goldenseal uses a default Personal Exemption Allowance (subtracted as the First adjustment), which is equal to half of the total Personal Exemption Allowance available to the employee and her spouse.

The employee and spouse may elect to split up this Personal Exemption Allowance in increments of $500 in any way they so choose. If your employee is claiming a different for her Personal Exemption Allowance, you will need to create a duplicate copy of the tax package and tax item, and then change this amount in the First adjustment field on the Mississippi Married 2 Income Tax Table.

The first state exemption claimed by the employee will deduct either $6000 (Single or Married 2 Income), $9500 (Head of Household), or $12000 (Married 1 Income) from the gross wages to compute taxable income. Each additional exemption will deduct $1500 from wages.

Contacts

Payroll Tax Office-- 601 923-7800
SUTA-- 601 923-7800

Mississippi Bureau of Revenue
Box 23050
Jackson MS 39225-3050

Little Known Tax Fact

The Mississippi state tax on the letter 's' was repealed in 1995. There is still a 2.5% excise tax on the letter 'i', except after 'c'.

Official State Lawn Ornament

Hound dog.

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