Bonus Tax Calculator
A bonus tax calculator for 2026. Enter the amount and your state to see what is withheld and what reaches your account. Bonuses are not taxed at a higher rate — they arewithheld differently, and that difference is usually settled when you file.
of a $5,000 bonus
This is withholding under the flat method, not your final tax. Your employer may instead use the aggregate method, which produces a different number. Every rate here is traced to the agency that published it — see our sources.
Where these rates come from
Federal: Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide, Section 7 — Supplemental Wages, Internal Revenue Service.
How bonuses are actually taxed
There is no bonus tax. A bonus is ordinary income and lands in the same brackets as the rest of your pay. What makes it feel different is withholding. The IRS lets an employer treat a bonus as a supplemental wage and hold back a flat 22% instead of running it through the ordinary tables — but only when the bonus is identified separately from your regular wages and income tax was withheld from those wages in the current or preceding year. Otherwise the employer must use the aggregate method: add the bonus to that period's pay and withhold at your usual rate.
That is why the same bonus can arrive two different sizes at two different employers. If your marginal rate is below 22%, the flat method takes too much and you get it back at filing. If it is above, the flat method takes too little and you settle up. Above $1,000,000 of supplemental wages in a calendar year the rate becomes 37% and is no longer optional.
State supplemental rates for 2026
24 states publish a flat rate of their own for bonuses. The rest add the payment to your regular pay, which means the state amount depends on everything else you earned that period.
No separate supplemental rate — regular withholding applies: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin. No wage income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming.
Questions people actually ask
Is a bonus taxed at a higher rate than my salary?
No. It is withheld differently, which is not the same thing. Your employer may use a flat 22% federal rate on a bonus instead of running it through the ordinary withholding tables. If your usual marginal rate is 12% or 10%, that flat 22% holds back more than you owe and you get the difference back when you file. If your marginal rate is 32%, it holds back less than you owe and you may end up paying the balance. A bonus is ordinary income. There is no separate bonus tax.
Why was 22% taken out of my bonus?
Because your employer used the optional flat rate. The IRS allows it when the bonus is identified separately from your regular wages and income tax was withheld from those wages in the current or preceding year. The alternative is the aggregate method, where the bonus is added to your regular pay for the period and withheld at your usual rate — which usually takes out less on a small bonus and more on a large one.
What happens above $1 million?
The portion of supplemental wages above $1,000,000 in a calendar year is withheld at 37%, and that rate is mandatory — the employer has no choice. The threshold is cumulative across the year, so a second bonus can be withheld at a different rate from the first.
Do Social Security and Medicare come out of a bonus?
Yes. A bonus is wages. Social Security at 6.2% applies until your total wages for the year reach the 2026 wage base of $184,500, after which it stops. Medicare at 1.45% has no cap at all, and an extra 0.9% applies above $200,000.
Does my state take a separate cut?
It depends where you are. 24 states publish their own flat supplemental rate, from North Dakota's 1.5% to New York's 11.70%. 18 have no separate rate and simply add the bonus to that period's pay. Nine states do not tax wage income at all. Georgia changed its rate part-way through 2026, Maryland adds your county's rate on top, and New York City and Yonkers stack a city rate on the state rate.
Will I get some of it back?
Quite possibly. Withholding is a prepayment, not a final bill. If the flat rate held back more than your actual liability, the excess comes back as part of your refund. If it held back less, you owe the difference. This is why the number on your stub and the number you end up paying are rarely the same.
Work out your regular paycheck too
A bonus is only part of the picture. Ourpaycheck calculatorcovers all 50 states, and each state page explains how that state's deductions and brackets work.