TALLIVOBonus Tax Calculator
What lands in your account after a bonus — and why the amount withheld is almost never the tax you actually owe.
A $10,000 bonus on an $85,000 salary leaves about $7,035 in your account. Roughly $2,200 goes to federal withholding at the flat 22% supplemental rate and $765 to Social Security and Medicare, before any state tax.
That 22% is withholding, not a tax rate. A bonus is ordinary income taxed at your normal brackets — 2026 federal, single filer, no state tax in this example. Whatever was over- or under-withheld is settled on your return.
Why your bonus felt like it was taxed at 40%
Because roughly 30% of it disappeared before it reached you — and almost none of that was a "bonus tax". There is no such thing. A bonus is ordinary income, taxed at the same brackets as the rest of your pay.
What happened is withholding. The IRS lets an employer take a shortcut on supplemental wages: a flat 22% federal, regardless of your bracket. Add Social Security and Medicare, which always apply, and a state that taxes income, and a large slice is gone on day one.
The two methods, and why the difference matters
The percentage method withholds a flat 22% when the bonus is paid or identified separately. The aggregate method lumps the bonus in with that period's regular wages and uses the normal withholding tables. Your employer chooses; you do not.
For most people the two land close together, because the bonus sits inside the same bracket their salary is already in. For a higher earner they diverge sharply. On a $50,000 bonus with a $200,000 salary, the flat method withholds $11,000 while the bonus actually adds $14,570 to the federal bill — leaving $3,570 to find in April. A big flat-withheld bonus is a reason to check your withholding, not to celebrate.
Above $1 million, the rate is not optional
Once supplemental wages pass $1,000,000 in a calendar year, the excess must be withheld at 37% — the top rate. That is an IRS requirement rather than an employer decision, and it catches people who assume the 22% shortcut applies to the whole amount.
Common questions
How much tax is taken out of a bonus?
Are bonuses taxed at a higher rate than salary?
What are the two withholding methods?
Why did my big bonus get withheld at 37%?
Can I avoid tax on a bonus by putting it in my 401(k)?
How we calculate this
Flat method: 22% federal on supplemental wages, 37% above $1,000,000 (IRS Publication 15). Aggregate method: the marginal federal tax the bonus adds on top of your salary, using the 2026 brackets. FICA is applied to the bonus with the Social Security wage base and the 0.9% Additional Medicare threshold both accounted for.
State tax here is the annual liability the bonus creates, using your state's ordinary income tax — not a state supplemental withholding rate. Many states publish a separate flat rate for withholding; we do not have all fifty verified, so we show the number that actually settles rather than one we would be guessing at.
Estimates for the 2026 tax year. Withholding is not your final tax — your return settles the difference. Not tax advice.