East Lansing local tax guide
Who pays East Lansing's local tax
Residents owe 1% on all wages, whether they work on campus, in Lansing, or remotely for an out-of-state company. Nonresidents owe 0.5% only on pay for work physically performed inside East Lansing, so a professor who lives in Okemos and teaches from home two days a week owes nothing for those days. Residents who pay another Michigan city's tax, such as Lansing's 0.5% nonresident tax, get a credit up to East Lansing's own 0.5% nonresident rate, which covers it in full.
A newer city tax, approved by voters in 2018
East Lansing, a city of about 48,600 in Ingham and Clinton counties, is one of the few Michigan cities to adopt an income tax after a 1995 change that requires voter approval for new city income taxes. Voters rejected a proposal in 2017 and approved one in August 2018, and the tax took effect on January 1, 2019, paired with a cut in the city's property tax millage.
The ordinance runs for 12 years unless voters renew it, so the tax is scheduled to lapse around 2030 without another vote. The rates are the default under Michigan's uniform city income tax ordinance, and the city runs its own income tax office.
Take-home pay at $75,000
A single filer earning $75,000 pays $7,670 in federal tax and $2,937 to Michigan at the flat 4.25% rate, plus $4,650 in Social Security and $1,088 in Medicare. An East Lansing resident adds $750 in city tax and takes home $57,905, or $4,825 a month.
A university employee who lives in Haslett, Bath, or another township without a city tax pays $375 and keeps $58,280. With no city tax at all, take-home pay would be $58,655. At $100,000 a commuter pays $500 and a resident $1,000.
Withholding and filing in East Lansing
Employers in the city, MSU included, withhold East Lansing tax based on the city withholding certificate you file, which asks where you live and how much of your work happens inside the city. Your return is Form EL-1040, filed with the City of East Lansing, not with the state.
You must file even if no East Lansing tax was withheld, which matters for residents whose employer is in Lansing or out of state. Residents can subtract a personal exemption for each person claimed; the estimate on this page does not, so it slightly overstates the bill.
East Lansing compared with Lansing and other cities
Lansing, which borders East Lansing to the west, charges the same 1% / 0.5%. Someone who lives in one city and works in the other pays $375 to each at $75,000, matching the $750 a single-city resident pays.
Detroit's 2.4% resident rate costs $1,800 at the same salary and Grand Rapids' 1.5% costs $1,125. Ann Arbor, the other big university town in Michigan, levies no city income tax.
Tips for East Lansing paychecks
Graduate students and staff: check residency
If you rent in East Lansing and work on campus, you owe the 1% resident rate, not the 0.5% commuter rate. Make sure your withholding certificate reflects where you actually live.
Track remote days if you live outside the city
Nonresidents owe East Lansing tax only for work done inside the city. Keep a record of days worked from home so you can allocate wages on the nonresident return.
Watch for the renewal vote
Because the tax was approved for 12 years, a future ballot will decide whether it continues past about 2030. If it lapses, the 1% and 0.5% would come off your paycheck.