Connecticut Tax Tables: Brackets, Exemptions, and Recapture

Connecticut income tax brackets run from 2% to 6.99% across seven graduated tiers, and the tier thresholds depend on your filing status. Each rate applies only to the income that falls inside its range, so a higher bracket never retroactively taxes your lower dollars at the higher rate. Two wrinkles make the final number different from a straight bracket lookup: a personal exemption that phases out as income rises, and a “benefit recapture” charge that claws back the savings from the lower brackets once you cross certain income levels.

The current schedule took effect for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2024. That change dropped the bottom rate from 3% to 2% and added a 6.9% tier that did not previously exist, bringing the total to seven brackets under C.G.S. § 12-700.

Brackets for Single Filers and Married Filing Separately

Up to $10,000: 2%
$10,001 to $50,000: 4.5%
$50,001 to $100,000: 5.5%
$100,001 to $200,000: 6%
$200,001 to $250,000: 6.5%
$250,001 to $500,000: 6.9%
Over $500,000: 6.99%

Because rates are marginal, someone with $60,000 of Connecticut taxable income pays 2% on the first $10,000, 4.5% on the next $40,000, and 5.5% on the remaining $10,000. That works out to $2,550, not the $3,300 a flat 5.5% would produce.¹

Brackets for Married Filing Jointly and Qualifying Surviving Spouse

Up to $20,000: 2%
$20,001 to $100,000: 4.5%
$100,001 to $200,000: 5.5%
$200,001 to $400,000: 6%
$400,001 to $500,000: 6.5%
$500,001 to $1,000,000: 6.9%
Over $1,000,000: 6.99%

The joint thresholds are not simply double the single-filer amounts. The top 6.99% rate, for instance, starts at $1,000,000 for joint filers versus $500,000 for single filers.¹

Head of Household Brackets

Head of Household filers have their own set of thresholds that sit between the single and joint schedules. The exact figures appear in the Tax Calculation Schedule (Form CT-1040 TCS) that the Department of Revenue Services publishes each year.²

Personal Exemption and Its Phase-Out

Before you run your income through the brackets, Connecticut lets you subtract a personal exemption from your Connecticut adjusted gross income. The maximum amounts by filing status:

Single: $15,000
Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Surviving Spouse: $24,000
Head of Household: $19,000
Married Filing Separately: $12,000

The full exemption is only available at lower income levels. For single filers, it begins shrinking once Connecticut AGI passes $30,000, dropping by $1,000 for every additional $1,000 of income. Joint filers see the phase-out begin at $48,000. A single filer with AGI above $44,000 gets no exemption at all.²

Getting the exemption right matters because the brackets apply to the income figure that remains after it is subtracted.

Benefit Recapture for Higher Earners

Connecticut does not simply let higher earners keep the low rates on their first dollars of income. Two recapture provisions add flat charges on top of the bracket calculation once your income clears certain lines.

Rate Reduction Recapture

The first recapture claws back the savings from the 2024 rate cuts (the reductions from 3% to 2% and from 5% to 4.5%). It starts when Connecticut AGI exceeds $105,000 for single filers or $210,000 for joint filers. The add-on is $25 for every $5,000 of income above the trigger, capped at $250 for single filers.¹

Lower-Bracket Recapture

The second recapture is bigger. It removes the benefit of having any income taxed below 6.9% and begins at $200,000 of Connecticut AGI for single filers, $400,000 for joint filers. The surcharge grows at $90 per $5,000 of income above the threshold, reaching a maximum of $3,150 for single filers. At the ceiling, the effect is close to taxing nearly all your income at the top rate.¹

Both recapture amounts are added to the tax you calculated from the standard brackets. Preparation software applies them automatically. If you work through the Tax Calculation Schedule by hand, each recapture has its own worksheet.

Putting the Numbers Together

The order of operations for a Connecticut return runs like this. Start with your federal AGI, apply the state’s add-backs and subtractions to arrive at Connecticut AGI, subtract your personal exemption (as reduced by the phase-out), then apply the bracket rates for your filing status to what remains. Add any recapture that applies at your income level. Credits, including the property tax credit and Connecticut’s earned income tax credit, come off the resulting tax figure.

DRS publishes two lookup tools each year. The Tax Calculation Schedule (Form CT-1040 TCS) walks through the bracket math, exemption phase-out, and recapture calculations step by step. The standard Tax Tables provide a pre-calculated tax for income up to roughly $102,000, split by filing status. Both are available as PDFs on the DRS Calculators and Tables page, and an interactive calculator lives on the myconneCT portal.³

Use the lookup Tables only for straightforward returns under about $102,000. Above that, or whenever recapture is in play, the Tax Calculation Schedule is the tool that produces the right number.

A Note on Nonresidents

These brackets and the recapture rules apply through Form CT-1040 for full-year residents. If you earned Connecticut-source income but lived elsewhere for all or part of the year, you file Form CT-1040NR/PY instead. The calculation first computes tax as if you were a full-year resident using the same brackets, then prorates the result by the share of your total income that came from Connecticut sources.⁴

1
Justia. Connecticut Code 12-700 – Imposition of Tax on Income. Rates
2
Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. CT-1040 TCS – 2025 Tax Calculation Schedule
3
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. DRS Calculators/Tables
4
Connecticut State Department of Revenue Services. Tax Information – Nonresident and Part-Year Resident