Owensboro local tax
On $60,000 of wages, working in Owensboro costs $1,068 a year in local occupational fees.
Levy by levy
Each levy is applied at its own wage cap. Adding the rates together and applying them once would give a different, wrong answer wherever the caps differ.
| Levy | Rate | Wages it applies to | Annual amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owensboro occupational fee | 1.78% | $60,000 | $1,068 |
| Total | $1,068 |
How Owensboro and Daviess County interact
The county fee does not reach inside the city limits at all. There is nothing to credit, because the county never levies on this worker — which is a different thing from a credit, and modelling it as a stack would over-charge every city worker by the full county rate.
- Form E-1 splits the wage base by geography rather than stacking: Column A takes "compensation earned within the corporate city limits of the City of Owensboro" and Column B "compensation earned in Daviess County, outside the corporate city limits of Owensboro".
- Column B's Line 2 deduction removes city wages from the county base outright -- it "should include compensation earned in the corporate limits of the City of Owensboro". So the county 1% is not owed on an Owensboro workplace, and there is nothing to credit.
- Daviess County's rate reached 1% on 2022-01-01 (0.70% from 2020-01-01); a superseded Form E-1 showing 0.35% is stale. Owensboro went from 1.39% to 1.78% on 2017-05-17.
- Neither fee has a wage cap. The $75 minimum is a business/net-profit minimum licence fee and does not touch employee withholding.
- The KRS 68.197(10)(a) referendum question does not arise here: with no county fee reaching inside the city, there is no credit for the statute to grant or remove.
Daviess County's own occupational fee does not reach inside Owensboro's city limits, so it is not owed on wages earned there.
Source: City of Owensboro / Daviess County Fiscal Court — Form E-1, Employer Return of License Fee Withheld, back-page instructions, verified 2026-08-22.
Owensboro local tax: common questions
How much local tax do I pay working in Owensboro?
On $60,000 of wages, $1,068 a year if you live in Owensboro. That is a single levy, and each is capped at its own wage base rather than sharing one — which is why the total is not simply the rates added together.
Does Daviess County charge on top of Owensboro?
The county fee does not reach inside the city limits at all. There is nothing to credit, because the county never levies on this worker — which is a different thing from a credit, and modelling it as a stack would over-charge every city worker by the full county rate.
Is this the same as Kentucky state income tax?
No. This is a local occupational licence fee, levied by the city, county or school board, and it is separate from Kentucky's state income tax. It is also not waived by Kentucky's reciprocity agreements with neighbouring states — Form 740-NP-R, the reciprocal-state refund return, instructs "Do not include local tax withheld."