Bonus tax calculator
Enter your bonus and your regular pay to see what an employer withholds by the flat 22 percent method and by the aggregate method, and what you take home. Social Security and Medicare tax are included.
This answer is for the example values in the boxes above. Bonus $1,000 with a regular paycheck of $2,000. Change the boxes to see your own answer.
An employer picks one of the two methods. What is withheld is not the tax you owe: your bonus is taxed as income on your return, at your own rates.
State and local tax and a bonus of more than $1 million in a year are not in the figures.
How it works
Publication 15 calls a bonus supplemental wages, and it lets an employer withhold federal income tax on it in two ways. The flat method takes 22 percent of the bonus. The aggregate method adds the bonus to the regular pay of the paycheck, works out the withholding on the total as one payment, and takes off what the regular pay already had withheld.
The calculator shows both, with the Social Security and Medicare tax on the bonus. The aggregate method uses the percentage method of Publication 15-T, which is the one the paycheck calculator uses. Your Form W-4 changes the result: the filing status and the box in Step 2.
A worked example
Publication 15 has an example of a single employee who is paid $2,000 a month and gets a bonus of $1,000. With the flat method $220 is withheld, which is 22 percent of the bonus. With the aggregate method and the wage bracket tables the IRS gets $179 on the $3,000 less $65 on the $2,000, which is $114.
This calculator uses the percentage method, and it gets $112.50 for the aggregate method. Social Security takes $62.00 and Medicare $14.50 of the bonus. You take home $703.50 with the flat method and $811.00 with the aggregate method.
What it leaves out
State and local tax are not in the figures. Neither is a bonus of more than $1 million in a year, which is withheld at 37 percent above that mark. Withholding is not the tax you owe: the bonus is taxed on your return at your own rates.
Sources
Questions
How is a bonus taxed?
A bonus is supplemental wages. Its income tax is withheld either at a flat 22% or by the aggregate method, which adds it to your regular pay for the paycheck. Social Security and Medicare tax apply on top. The withholding is not your final tax.
What is the flat bonus tax rate for 2026?
Publication 15 says that the withholding rate on supplemental wages remains 22%, and it is 37% on supplemental wages above $1 million in a calendar year.
What is the aggregate method?
The employer adds the bonus to your regular pay for the paycheck and withholds as if the total were one payment. It then subtracts the tax that was withheld from the regular pay and withholds the rest from the bonus.
Who chooses the method?
Your employer does. When tax was withheld from your regular pay and the bonus is paid separately, Publication 15 lets the employer use either method. A bonus paid with your wages and not shown apart is withheld as one regular payment.
Is a bonus taxed at a higher rate?
The withholding on a bonus can be higher than on a regular paycheck, but it is an advance. Your bonus is part of your income for the year, and the tax on it is settled on your return at your own rates.
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