Bonus tax calculator United States 2026

• The federal figure uses the flat supplemental wage rate, which applies when a bonus is identified separately from regular wages.
• A bonus paid inside a regular paycheque is instead withheld at your normal rate, and this page will overstate or understate that.
• Social Security and Medicare are charged as the extra payroll tax the bonus causes on top of your salary, so a salary already above the wage base changes the result.
• State tax is the additional state income tax the bonus causes. State supplemental rates are not carried by the data layer.
• Withholding is not final tax. Your return settles the difference.

The IRS treats a bonus as a supplemental wage. When an employer identifies it separately from your regular pay, they may withhold federal tax at a flat 22 percent instead of running it through your W4. That rate rises to 37 percent on the portion of supplemental wages above $1,000,000 paid to one person in a calendar year, which is the reason this page asks what has already been paid.

The flat rate is a withholding shortcut, not the tax you owe. If your marginal rate is 12 or 22 percent, 22 percent withholding may leave you owed a refund. If it is 32 or 35 percent, you will owe more in April than was held back. Either way the bonus is ordinary income on the return and meets whatever bracket it lands in.

Social Security and Medicare are charged on the bonus as wages, so the figures here are the extra payroll tax the bonus causes on top of your salary. A salary already past the Social Security wage base means the bonus attracts no further Social Security at all. State tax is handled the same way, as the additional state income tax the bonus produces, because state supplemental rates vary and are not in the data behind this site.