Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: every figure Clear Money Guide holds about Iowa, on one page, each one copied from a dataset that cites its own statute or agency. Built for reporters on deadline — take any line, follow the link for the source.
What stands out about Iowa
These are the figures where Iowa differs most from the rest of the country — selected by counting how many jurisdictions share each value, not by editorial preference.
- Five year total: at least $140 — the only jurisdiction of the 48 we have data for
- Aggregate limit: $350,000 — one of only 2 of 48
- Deposit cap: 2 months’ rent — one of only 4 of 37
- Salary history ban: no — one of only 9 of 49
What dying costs here
- Small estate limit: 100000
- Small estate scope: personal_only
Source and full detail: the cost-of-dying index. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Estate and property law status
- Authorized: yes
- Statute or act: Iowa Code 9B.14A, added by SF 475 (2019) adopting the 2018 RULONA remote amendments
- Effective date: 2020-07-01
- Conditions: Notary must notify the SOS before the first remote act and identify the technology, and must complete SOS-approved training beforehand. Identity via personal knowledge, credible-witness testimony, or at least two types of identity proofing (credential analysis plus KBA per secondary sourcing). Tw…
- Association name: Iowa Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
- Death benefit limit: $300,000
- Cash surrender limit: $100,000
- Annuity limit: $250,000
- Aggregate limit: $350,000
- Statute citation: Iowa Code § 508C.3(5) (Iowa Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association)
- Free look days: 10 days
- Trigger: receipt of the life insurance policy or annuity by the owner
- Extended windows: 30 days for replacement transactions (191 IAC 16.26(1)”d”); at least 15 days for an annuity where the Buyer’s Guide and disclosure document were not provided at or before application (191 IAC 15.64(3))
- Refund basis: premium paid, promptly refunded; for replacements, unconditional full refund of all premiums including policy fees or charges, EXCEPT variable or market-value-adjustment policies/contracts, which get the cash surrender value plus the fees and other charges deducted from gross premiums or imposed …
Source and full detail: notary rules by state · guaranty association limits · life insurance free-look periods · life insurance grace periods. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Working and earning here
- Quit deadline: Not later than the next regular payday for the pay period in which the wages were earned
- Fired deadline: Not later than the next regular payday for the pay period in which the wages were earned
- Statute citation: Iowa Code 91A.4, 91A.2(6), 91A.8
- Has law: No
- Disclosure trigger: none
- Salary history ban: no
- Local ordinances: none identified
- Authority: statute
- Reciprocity: Illinois only
- Contested: no
Source and full detail: final paycheck laws by state · pay transparency laws by state · paid family leave by state · the convenience-of-the-employer rule. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Renting here
- Deposit cap: 2 months’ rent
- Return deadline: 30 days
- Interest required: conditional
- Statute citation: Iowa Code 562A.12
Source and full detail: security deposit law by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Starting a business here
- Formation fee: $50
- Annual report: $30 online / $45 by paper, filed BIENNIALLY in odd-numbered years
- Franchise tax: none found for LLCs in the sources searched
- Publication requirement: none identified
- Expedite options: $50 two business days; $15 five business days; $250 same-day preclearance
- Statute citation: Iowa Code § 489.201 (certificate of organization); Iowa SOS Business Entity Forms and Fees
- Five year total: at least $140
Source and full detail: LLC cost by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Tax treatment here
- Has law: Yes
- Treatment: ordinary income
- Rate: 3.80% flat
- Preferential mechanism: none
- Tax year: 2026
- Statute citation: Iowa Code § 422.5A (rate, as amended by S.F. 2442 (2024)); Iowa Code § 422.7 (capital gain exclusions)
Source and full detail: capital gains tax by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
For journalists: how to cite this
Clear Money Guide, Iowa Money Statistics 2026. https://clearmoneyguide.com/state-money-statistics/iowa/. Every figure on this page is copied from a Clear Money Guide dataset that states its own primary source and the date it was read — follow the section links for the statute or agency behind any number. Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0.
What this sheet does and does not contain
This sheet aggregates; it does not research. Every figure is copied from the owning page linked in each section, and a figure we do not own is simply absent — not estimated, not inferred from a neighbouring state. That is why sheets differ in length: this one states 43 figures, and a state where we hold less will show fewer. A short sheet means we have less, not that the state has less.
Statutory law changes. Each linked owner page carries the date its figures were read; check there before relying on anything here. See also Iowa financial adviser statistics and all 51 state money sheets.
General information about published law and public data, not legal, tax or investment advice. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.