Marshall Islands Salary Calculator 2026
Free Marshall Islands salary calculator (2026): estimate take-home pay for employees and the self-employed. Educational, not tax advice.
by Simon Bodych
Methodology & sources
Methodology - Marshall Islands (2026)
Educational model - not tax advice. Currency USD. The Marshall Islands has no general worldwide income tax, no capital gains tax and no VAT; wages are taxed by the Wage and Salary Tax and businesses by the Gross Revenue Tax under the Income Tax Act 1989.
Employee (Wage and Salary Tax, WST)
- Wage income is taxed by the WST, withheld by the employer each pay period and remitted to the Ministry of Finance. For most employees the withholding is final and there is no separate annual return.
- WST income tax 2026: the first USD 8,320 of annual salary is exempt (P.L. 2026-68, effective April 2026); 8% applies to annual wages between USD 8,320 and USD 10,400; 12% applies to annual wages above USD 10,400. The rates apply to gross wages with no separate standard deduction.
- MISSA Retirement Fund (Social Security): the employee contributes 8% of gross taxable wages, with the base capped at USD 10,000 per calendar quarter (USD 40,000 per year).
- MISSA Health Fund: the employee contributes 3.5% of gross taxable wages, with the base capped at USD 5,000 per calendar quarter (USD 20,000 per year).
- Employer side: MISSA Retirement (8%) and Health (3.5%) match the employee on the same capped bases.
- Provisional: the exact interaction of the USD 8,320 exemption with the USD 10,400 bracket boundary is inferred from RNZ and Bloomberg reporting of P.L. 2026-68, because the amending Act PDF is a scanned image. The Health Fund per-side rate (3.5% each side) follows the MISSA wording but is described by some secondary guides as a 3.5% total split 1.75% / 1.75%.
- Out of scope: the reduced 5% flat WST rate for US contractor personnel on the Kwajalein base (a worksite-specific regime) and non-resident International Business Companies (a separate offshore regime). This calculator models a standard single resident employee.
Sources: MISSA - Taxable Earnings, Bloomberg Tax - Income Tax Act amendment (P.L. 2026-68), Income Tax Act 1989, 48 MIRC Ch.1.
Self-employed (sole proprietor / business)
- Self-employed sole traders pay the business Gross Revenue Tax, not the Wage and Salary Tax: USD 80 per year on the portion of gross revenue up to USD 10,000, plus 3% per year on gross revenue above USD 10,000. The base is gross revenue (turnover), not net profit, with no deduction for business costs.
- MISSA: the owner pays both the employee and employer shares, so 16% for the Retirement Fund (8% + 8%) and 7% for the Health Fund (3.5% + 3.5%). If the owner has no employees, the deemed contributory base is 75% of gross revenue, capped at USD 40,000 per year (Retirement) and USD 20,000 per year (Health).
- Business expenses reduce the owner take-home profit but do not reduce the Gross Revenue Tax or the MISSA deemed base, which are both driven by gross revenue.
- Provisional: the Health Fund per-side 3.5% (7% combined) reading is documented but ambiguous; the per-year period of the USD 80 fixed Gross Revenue Tax fee is statutorily defensible but ambiguous across secondary sources.
- Out of scope: the "twice the highest-paid worker" deemed-earnings rule for owners with employees, and non-resident International Business Companies.
Sources: Income Tax Act 1989, 48 MIRC Ch.1 (Gross Revenue Tax), MISSA - FAQs (self-employed deemed earnings).