Connecticut Personal Income Tax Laws

Created by FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors | Last reviewed June 20, 2016

We all dread it: tax season. It doesn’t seem to matter if we’re getting a healthy return or not; filing our taxes is a pain. And whether we’re using a computer program or hiring an accountant to do our taxes, we all still wonder about the laws that take so much money out of our paychecks. Here's a basic overview of personal income tax laws in Connecticut.

Income Tax in Connecticut

States enact personal income tax laws to pay for public schools, police budgets, and road construction and maintenance, as well as other vital state services. The Constitution State employs a two-tiered system whereby your tax rate depending on your annual income. Connecticut's personal income tax laws are detailed in the chart below.

Code Section	General Statutes of Connecticut Title 12: Taxation
Who is Required to File	Each resident individual, trust, and estate with Connecticut taxable income; Nonresident individuals, estates, and trusts on Connecticut income
Rate	First $10,000, 3%; 4.5% above $10,000
Federal Income Tax Deductible	No
Federal Income Used as Basis	Yes

Personal income taxes aren’t the only taxes we pay. You may also be subject to Connecticut’s consumer tax laws as well as federal tax laws. While there are some states that choose not to charge personal income taxes, basic tax law allows both the federal government and the states to tax earned and unearned personal income. Earned income is generally your salary, including wages, tips, commissions, bonuses, unemployment benefits, and sick pay. Unearned income comes from other sources like interest, dividends, profits from asset sales, business and farm income, rent income, royalties, gambling winnings, and alimony.

Federal taxes are determined according to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and handled by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Most IRS forms and publications are available online. While some state income tax codes are based on the federal code, there may be important differences depending on your state that you should be aware of before filing or paying your taxes. You can find some state tax forms online, along with taxpayer assistance programs if you would like help filing your state and federal income taxes.