West Virginia’s 2026 rates after the latest cuts
West Virginia taxes gains as ordinary income through five brackets from 2.11% to 4.58% for 2026, after a series of rate cuts. Single and joint filers share the same boundaries, $10,000, $25,000, $40,000 and $60,000, with married-separate boundaries halved. A single filer moving from $60,000 to $110,000 of taxable income pays $2,290 more.
There is no general capital gains preference. West Virginia does let residents subtract certain retirement income and Social Security, but that does not reach gains in a brokerage account.
West Virginia approved resident annual comparison
West Virginia section 11-21-4j supplies the operative income-tax rates for tax years beginning January 1, 2026. The five rates are 2.11%, 2.81%, 3.16%, 4.22% and 4.58%. Most filing categories use taxable-income boundaries of $10,000, $25,000, $40,000 and $60,000; the married-separate schedule has half those boundaries and corresponding cumulative tax bases.
These current-year rates are distinct from the older section 4i schedule and the dated 2025 return booklet. Capital-gain recognition, additions, subtractions, deductions and exemptions still require the taxpayer’s actual West Virginia reconciliation. A long holding period does not create a separate state preferential band. Use state taxable income after the applicable approved adjustments rather than gross gain or federal NIIT MAGI.
The resident estimate repeats the current statutory schedule on whole-dollar annual bases and deducts full usable nonrefundable credits for each scenario. A gain above the top boundary adds 4.58% of the approved taxable increase before credit changes. Residency allocation, special additional taxes, refundable credits and prescribed final tax-table intervals remain outside this estimate and can be entered as prepared final state liabilities.
West Virginia preparation checklist
- Actual state taxable bases after approved basis, netting, deductions and exemptions
- 2026 section 4j operative schedule
- Separate-return boundaries halved