Income and Investments Are Bonuses Taxed? How Bonuses Are Taxed and Treated by the IRS Read the Article Open Share Drawer Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Written by TurboTaxBlogTeam Published Nov 9, 2017 - [Updated Oct 22, 2024] 5 min read Bonuses are an excellent way to motivate employees and reward top performers. However, bonuses can also quickly change one’s tax return and the amount of taxes initially withheld depending on the payout. Are bonuses treated as regular income or singled out for special tax treatment? Are some types of bonuses more favorable than others? And are there any ways to minimize the tax impact of getting a bonus? These questions are explored below. Bonuses are considered “supplemental wages” The IRS goes to great lengths to categorize different types of income and treat them differently, and bonuses are another example of this. In the eyes of the IRS, bonuses are typically categorized as “supplemental wages.” As a University of Minnesota summary explains: “The IRS defines supplemental wages as compensation paid in addition to the employee’s regular wages that includes, but is not limited to, severance or dismissal pay, vacation pay, back pay, bonuses, moving expenses, overtime, taxable fringe benefits, and commissions.” Are your bonuses taxed? If you recently received a bonus, you may be wondering — are bonuses treated the same as your taxable income, or are bonuses taxed differently? One way or another, bonuses are typically taxed, but how they are taxed and at what rate depends on the situation. Tax rates may also vary based on your tax bracket and the type of bonus you receive. So, how are bonuses taxed? We’ll take a closer look at that in the rest of this guide. Are bonuses taxed on the federal and state levels? Bonuses are usually taxed on both the federal and state levels, which means you have to report and pay taxes on your bonuses twice. However, supplemental income tax rules and rates can vary depending on the state you’re in. You can visit your state Department of Revenue website to learn more about how bonuses are taxed in your state. If you need help finding tax information for your state, you can use this state Department of Revenue directory. How are bonuses taxed? Bonuses (like other supplemental wages) are treated differently than ordinary wage or salary income when it comes to taxes withheld at payout. There are two ways of withholding taxes from your bonus: the percentage method and the aggregate method. Which method gets applied to your bonus? Let’s find out. The percentage method The IRS specifies a flat “supplemental rate” of 22%, meaning that any supplemental wages (including bonuses) should be taxed in that amount. If you receive a $5,000 bonus, under this rule, $1,100 (22% of $5,000) goes straight to the IRS. Using this approach, the amount of your bonus, whatever it is, is “singled out” from the rest of your income and taxed directly. Employers frequently choose the percentage method because it’s easier to tax the entire bonus at a uniform rate. In most cases, this is ideal from your standpoint as the bonus receiver and taxpayer, too. In addition to being more time-consuming and laborious for employers, the aggregate method (described below) can take a bigger tax bite out of your bonus payments. The aggregate method Unlike the much simpler percentage method, the aggregate method is used when your employer pays your bonus (say, $5,000) with your most recent regular paycheck. Then, they determine the normal withholding amount based on IRS withholding tables for the sum of both amounts, subtract what was already withheld from your last paycheck, and withhold the rest from the bonus amount. The problem with this approach is that instead of taxes being withheld at a flat 22%, and having that 22% rate applied only to the bonus amount, taxes are withheld at what is almost certainly a higher rate on the combined amount of your normal pay and the bonus. The result: a higher overall tax obligation initially for the same amount of income. Also, if your bonus puts you in a higher tax bracket this year, and you expect to make less next year, see if your employer can defer your bonus to lower your tax bill this year. Now, you might be asking, “Why are bonuses taxed so high?” and that’s understandable, but luckily, there are a variety of ways you can reduce your taxable income overall, like taking advantage of credits and deductions. What if my bonus exceeds $1 million? What about high-end corporate bonuses, like those exceeding $1 million or more? These are singled out for higher taxes. If you receive a bonus of more than $1 million, your employer must withhold 37% of the amount above $1 million, as well as the standard 22% of the amount below $1 million. In short, if you dislike the eye-popping bonuses top executives receive, you can take comfort in knowing how large a bite the IRS takes! No matter what method is used to withhold taxes from your bonus at payout, don’t panic. Remember, taxes may be withheld from your bonus at a higher tax rate at payout, but when you file your taxes at tax time, your actual tax rate is based on your total taxable income and overall actual tax rate, which may be lower. Depending on your taxable income, actual tax rate, and eligible tax deductions and credits, you may get some of the money withheld back in the form of a tax refund. When are bonus taxes paid? If you received a bonus from your employer, you don’t have to worry about withholding taxes or reporting additional income at the end of the year. Taxes from bonuses are usually withheld before you receive your bonus. What happens if you overpaid or underpaid taxes on your bonus? Even though you don’t have to withhold and pay taxes on bonuses manually, you can still overpay or underpay taxes on your bonus. If you overpaid your taxes, you could be eligible for a refund at the end of the year. However, you’ll only receive a refund if you have enough withheld for federal taxes and you don’t have any outstanding tax bills. If your employer doesn’t withhold enough when paying your bonus, you may have an unexpected bill when you file your taxes. You can also face penalties for underpayment in some cases. Fortunately, this usually isn’t a problem. Don’t worry about remembering all of this information come tax time, TurboTax will ask you simple questions about you and give you the tax deductions and credits you are eligible for. Are you lucky enough to get a bonus? Which tax method will your employer use? Previous Post 3 Tax Reasons for Why You Should Think Twice Before… Next Post Four Changes to Make This Year to Buy Your Dream… Written by TurboTaxBlogTeam More from TurboTaxBlogTeam 166 responses to “Are Bonuses Taxed? How Bonuses Are Taxed and Treated by the IRS” « Older Comments Just to mention, your social security 6.2% and medicare 1.45% as well as your state withholding 6% (est) can bring your total deductions to 38%-40% depending on your state withholding amount. So the 25% is only for the federal withholding (2018 and 2019 the figure is 22% but is based on how you receive this “supplemental wage”). If it’s mixed in with your normal pay or if it’s paid separately, it could make a difference. If you know you’re getting a bonus, talk to the payroll people first to engage their assistance and find out how it’s being treated. there are so many automated payroll systems out there right now that some of the payroll processors don’t really know how it’s being figured. they will learn something in the process and hopefully everyone will be satisfied. And Yes, your final tax return will determine what you really owe. Happy New Year!!! Reply Is it beneficial to the employer to pay less throughout the year and give a bonus at the end? As if they are doing you a huge favor but really you’re getting screwed out of money? Reply I believe the new (2018) tax rate for bonuses under $1 M is 22%. Reply Does the bonus payout count towards your social security maximum? For example if I get a 30k bonus payout in March (for my previous years performance), does that count to max $132,900 wage base? Reply Does anyone know if a retirement payment made directly from your former employer is considered supplemental wages? Mine is considering it supplemental and causing me to way over with hold. Reply My salary is biweekly and is $150,000 per year. Last year my bonus was $330,000. My employer taxed my bonus as salary…as if I make $330,000 biweekly. My $330,000 bonus was taxed at an inflated rate and my net pay for my $330,000 bonus was $120,000. How can I prevent this from happening again? I work for a large company, but the ladies in payroll do not like change. I would like to net more from my bonus pay in 2016 because I anticipate an expensive(my deductible is$15,000 because my income is high) surgery. I know some of you reading my comment think that I am a Fat Cat. I don’t feel rich. I live in California, pay a 13 CA state income tax, probably about 30 percent to Fed, FICA with employer contribution is 12 percent Medicare tax and My income bracket is stuck with Obama care tax, prop tax is $12,000, CA sales tax is 8 percent and on and on and on. Thank you for reading my comment. Reply This same thing just happened to me (but with a MUCH SMALLER bonus). The gross amount was $350.00 and the net was about $207.53. I knew something was wrong because I’ve worked there for 4 years and the net amount was never such a small percentage. I talked to our payroll mgr & she said it’s because we switched payroll companies and most of them including ours (Ultipro) treats bonuses as regular twice-monthly salary instead of a once-monthly bonus and each have a different tax structure. I and others expressed our extreme disappointment since it wasn’t like this with ADP, and our payroll mgr told us that is because it was altered in ADP by our former payroll manager (it’s legal). Sooo, long story short – she changed settings in Ultipro so they tax our bonuses at the monthly instead of the twice-monthly rate since our bonuses are only paid once monthly. Going forward, our bonuses will be taxed at a better rate!! I encourage you to ask your payroll dept if they can make an adjustment. Reply Hi! Diana, This morning I was having this discussion with my wife, thus leading me to a search on google. I too am seeking the best possible way to optimize her deductions, since I’m a stay at home dad and the lack of an income can make things pretty tough at times and so far here’s what i have: 1. Maximizing your 401k right before the bonus period. In fact you could meet the contribution limit just from that one check. 2. If your employer provides max out your HSA (Health Savings Account) around $6800 annual/family. Unlike a flex spending account, you dont loose what your you dont use and what you dont use will grow (based on fund selection) and can be used to pay medical bills tax free. Use of non medical needs will incur a 20% penalty. Not a whole lot of savings but based on what I’ve looked into is all I can suggest… Reply All I can say to this …is a perfect example of how this country that I love punishes those who work hard and rewards slackers… incredible huh … then this country expects us to foot the bill for other countries poor. Reply I realize this is a comment from a long time ago, to avoid the large upfront withholding, you are going to have to try to initiate a change in process for payroll so that they process the bonus payout in a different payroll disbursement apart from the normal salary, that way they can apply the 25% withholding rate. That said, given your income level and the fact your ded’l is $15k, none of that will be able to reduce your taxes (expenses must exceed 7.5% of income), so even if you get the lower upfront withholding, when it comes to tax time, you will likely have to cough up more money at that time. Not entirely clear whether the high upfront withholding they are subjecting you to is really not in your best interest. If you can anticipate health care costs, consider a pre-tax health-care spending account if offered by your employer. Reply Wow! they are screwing us royally Reply If it’s true that bonuses are taxed the same as income in the end (and I think that’s true), this article is extremely misleading in the way it confuses withholding rates with actual tax rates. Reply Yes, I had a friend just now complaining that bonuses are taxed at a higher rate. She linked to this article. Indeed, that’s what its plain language says! Of course, you can get at the truth if you read very carefully, but it’s very misleading. Reply Yes, very misleading! Taxes are withheld at a higher rate, but overall, a bonus is taxed just like regular income. You might have higher withholding, but you’ll get a bigger refund at tax time. Reply daylight ROBBERY!!! Reply if my employer withholds my bonus taxes using the aggregation method, would i be entitled to a refund at tax time of the difference between the aggregation method and the percentage method? (i.e. if a bonus is taxed at 40% using the aggregation method can i get a 15% refund (the difference between the 40% (aggregation method) and the 25% (percentage method))? Reply Yes. It all works out at filing time. Reply Agreed, you will. This article fails to mention this even though it is one of the most common questions. If so a lot of your income is from a bonus and it is taxed at the aggregation method, you will get a good sized refund to even this out. I work at a car dealer and my employer is taxing my commission as a bonus! Is this right? I earn a commission as a % of sales but they list it as a bonus on my paystub which results in a flat 25% tax. Reply My employer taxes my vacation check as a luxury taxes at 28 percent 2400 and I received 1400 why do they tax it like that.and how do I stop them from doing this they take the luxury out of my vacation. Please help Reply My employer gives me a w2 for taxs withheld and when I get a bonus they give me a 1099 for the bonus my CPA tells me this is not right if anybody knows the law on this please help me understand Reply I do not think that is right for you to get a 1099 for your bonus, unless it was not taxed at all. It should be wages (supplemental) but still wages. Reply Your CPA is correct. Your employer is treating your bonus like a sub-contractor’s labor payment. He is avoiding the taxes he should pay (FICA) on the bonus by doing this. This also transfers the tax burden to you in the way of having to now pay the FICA for both the employer and your share. And to add insult to injury, you could be charged a self employment tax on what is essentially being reported as self employment income. The IRS could charge the employer for misclassifying labor wages and fine the employer. I’ve seen upwards of $40,000 in fines for a hospital who practiced this same policy. Additionally, when you file your taxes, your W-2 and the 1099 will have the same EIN from that employer. That’s a huge red flag for you and the employer to be audited. I would urge the employer to stop this practice. Reply Your CPA is right. You’re an employee, so all wages paid should be treated like wages, including bonuses. It sounds like they don’t know the rules or they are trying to work around the rules. Reply Your CPA is correct. Your bonus belongs on your W-2. A 1099 is for an independent contractor, not an employee. https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2674532-how-do-i-report-a-bonus-from-employer-not-included-on-w2 Reply This information was very useful. It offered a clear explanation as to why my $200 incentive bonuses end up as $129 deposits. Reply Does the Flat Tax withholding of 25% include Unemployment and Medicare? if not, i think this would be a good point to mention. Reply I live in New york city so I have Federal, state and NY city taxes taken from my check. Is the 25% only for Federal taxes? I also have 401k taken out at 3%. The gross was 2481.61. The pay out was almost half. Does this sound correct? It looks like an awful amount taken for taxes. Reply This article is very misleading and incorrectly refers to taxes and “tax impact” of bonuses. Bonuses, like all supplemental wages, are TAXED EXACTLY THE SAME as all other income — only the temporary WITHHOLDING is different. After your personal tax return is filed and any refund is received, the employee receives the EXACT SAME amount of money from the bonus that they would have if it were regular pay. The author should post a correction. Reply Thanks for spelling that out. I was trying to get this question answered to decide on how I should allocate a portion of my bonus for pre-tax 401k. Since only the withholding and not the *actual* tax is different, it doesn’t make a difference from a tax perspective whether I contribute bonus dollars or salary dollars. IOW I can just focus on deciding how I want to time my contributions & what level of take-home I want each month. The idea that bonus is taxed differently is pervasive but I just couldn’t believe what people were telling me. Reply Please put a note on the article explaining this is only about withholding and not about actual tax you pay when you file. It’s a good article that explains why one gets higher withholding on bonus payouts but does not put at ease by saying if that’s more than normal you would get back extra withholding while you file your returns. Reply Thank you for pointing this important detail out! Reply Hi Bill, I recently received a commission check from my employer, and it appears that it was taxed with the aggregate method (paid in conjunction with a pay check). assuming everything else with my income/deductions remains the same, does it stand to reason that I’ll receive a larger than usual tax return next year, to account for the larger withholdings from this one check? Reply Can an emplyer take out Luxury Tax? Reply How do I handle a bonus I received (untaxed) from a prior employer? I received a retro bonus in the amount of $ 65000 with nothing withheld. Reply you could give it to me Reply If I’d seen this sooner, I would have advised to send in an estimated tax payment to the IRS but the deadline for estimated tax payments for the previous calendar year would have been January 15th. Hope you got an answer sooner than now. Reply I mostly use PDFfiller, Inc. to fill out my tax documents online. It’s not the same thing, but maybe someone needs it. It also allows you to erase in a pdf and esign. It’s pretty easy to use and it’s pretty cheap. I think you can get a free week if you and a friend both register. Reply The author does not clearly distinguish between tax and tax withholding. This is an extremely poorly written article. Reply I agree, withholding and actual tax owed are two entirely different things. Reply I agree, this article is terribly written. Reply I agree Reply Absolutly yes! Initially I though that the %method will result in a lower effective tax rate. Reply employer offering early retirement “buyout” Offer is $100,000 to be given 12/1/2014. What will the taxes be? Reply probably 100,00o xD Reply Depends on your employer. Having gone through something very similar at the end of the tax year, my payout was up to what I would have made for this calendar year, and the remainder deferred to the following calendar year. In the eyes of the IRS, I won’t be making double my salary for one year. Reply My recent paycheck was $1735 before taxes. And I had a $725 bonus on same check…after taxes. Removing 433.05 for federal….and 96.96 for state and local and 178.70 for insurance…..how is it so I only receive $1751.29 from $ 2460.00. I’ve been told bonuses are taxed higher and are withheld by govt. How much of that do you get back and how much am I being taxed Reply I hear ya. My $3K bonus yields only $1,700 usable dollars. Reply « Older Comments Leave a ReplyCancel reply Browse Related Articles Tax Planning How Bonuses Are Taxed: A Complete Guide Income and Investments A Visual Guide to Taxing Bonuses [Infographic] Tax Planning Holiday Bonus Taxes 401K, IRA, Stocks What Happens to Employees When a Company Goes Public? Income and Investments Bonus Round: 5 Tips for Your Work Bonus Tax Tips The Tax Implications of Receiving a Holiday Bonus Self-Employed How Holiday Bonuses are Taxed for Contract Workers Work How Bonuses Received as a Contractor Are Taxed Income and Investments Are Credit Card Rewards Taxable Income? Income and Investments What Is Supplemental Income?
Just to mention, your social security 6.2% and medicare 1.45% as well as your state withholding 6% (est) can bring your total deductions to 38%-40% depending on your state withholding amount. So the 25% is only for the federal withholding (2018 and 2019 the figure is 22% but is based on how you receive this “supplemental wage”). If it’s mixed in with your normal pay or if it’s paid separately, it could make a difference. If you know you’re getting a bonus, talk to the payroll people first to engage their assistance and find out how it’s being treated. there are so many automated payroll systems out there right now that some of the payroll processors don’t really know how it’s being figured. they will learn something in the process and hopefully everyone will be satisfied. And Yes, your final tax return will determine what you really owe. Happy New Year!!! Reply
Is it beneficial to the employer to pay less throughout the year and give a bonus at the end? As if they are doing you a huge favor but really you’re getting screwed out of money? Reply
Does the bonus payout count towards your social security maximum? For example if I get a 30k bonus payout in March (for my previous years performance), does that count to max $132,900 wage base? Reply
Does anyone know if a retirement payment made directly from your former employer is considered supplemental wages? Mine is considering it supplemental and causing me to way over with hold. Reply
My salary is biweekly and is $150,000 per year. Last year my bonus was $330,000. My employer taxed my bonus as salary…as if I make $330,000 biweekly. My $330,000 bonus was taxed at an inflated rate and my net pay for my $330,000 bonus was $120,000. How can I prevent this from happening again? I work for a large company, but the ladies in payroll do not like change. I would like to net more from my bonus pay in 2016 because I anticipate an expensive(my deductible is$15,000 because my income is high) surgery. I know some of you reading my comment think that I am a Fat Cat. I don’t feel rich. I live in California, pay a 13 CA state income tax, probably about 30 percent to Fed, FICA with employer contribution is 12 percent Medicare tax and My income bracket is stuck with Obama care tax, prop tax is $12,000, CA sales tax is 8 percent and on and on and on. Thank you for reading my comment. Reply
This same thing just happened to me (but with a MUCH SMALLER bonus). The gross amount was $350.00 and the net was about $207.53. I knew something was wrong because I’ve worked there for 4 years and the net amount was never such a small percentage. I talked to our payroll mgr & she said it’s because we switched payroll companies and most of them including ours (Ultipro) treats bonuses as regular twice-monthly salary instead of a once-monthly bonus and each have a different tax structure. I and others expressed our extreme disappointment since it wasn’t like this with ADP, and our payroll mgr told us that is because it was altered in ADP by our former payroll manager (it’s legal). Sooo, long story short – she changed settings in Ultipro so they tax our bonuses at the monthly instead of the twice-monthly rate since our bonuses are only paid once monthly. Going forward, our bonuses will be taxed at a better rate!! I encourage you to ask your payroll dept if they can make an adjustment. Reply
Hi! Diana, This morning I was having this discussion with my wife, thus leading me to a search on google. I too am seeking the best possible way to optimize her deductions, since I’m a stay at home dad and the lack of an income can make things pretty tough at times and so far here’s what i have: 1. Maximizing your 401k right before the bonus period. In fact you could meet the contribution limit just from that one check. 2. If your employer provides max out your HSA (Health Savings Account) around $6800 annual/family. Unlike a flex spending account, you dont loose what your you dont use and what you dont use will grow (based on fund selection) and can be used to pay medical bills tax free. Use of non medical needs will incur a 20% penalty. Not a whole lot of savings but based on what I’ve looked into is all I can suggest… Reply
All I can say to this …is a perfect example of how this country that I love punishes those who work hard and rewards slackers… incredible huh … then this country expects us to foot the bill for other countries poor. Reply
I realize this is a comment from a long time ago, to avoid the large upfront withholding, you are going to have to try to initiate a change in process for payroll so that they process the bonus payout in a different payroll disbursement apart from the normal salary, that way they can apply the 25% withholding rate. That said, given your income level and the fact your ded’l is $15k, none of that will be able to reduce your taxes (expenses must exceed 7.5% of income), so even if you get the lower upfront withholding, when it comes to tax time, you will likely have to cough up more money at that time. Not entirely clear whether the high upfront withholding they are subjecting you to is really not in your best interest. If you can anticipate health care costs, consider a pre-tax health-care spending account if offered by your employer. Reply
If it’s true that bonuses are taxed the same as income in the end (and I think that’s true), this article is extremely misleading in the way it confuses withholding rates with actual tax rates. Reply
Yes, I had a friend just now complaining that bonuses are taxed at a higher rate. She linked to this article. Indeed, that’s what its plain language says! Of course, you can get at the truth if you read very carefully, but it’s very misleading. Reply
Yes, very misleading! Taxes are withheld at a higher rate, but overall, a bonus is taxed just like regular income. You might have higher withholding, but you’ll get a bigger refund at tax time. Reply
if my employer withholds my bonus taxes using the aggregation method, would i be entitled to a refund at tax time of the difference between the aggregation method and the percentage method? (i.e. if a bonus is taxed at 40% using the aggregation method can i get a 15% refund (the difference between the 40% (aggregation method) and the 25% (percentage method))? Reply
Agreed, you will. This article fails to mention this even though it is one of the most common questions. If so a lot of your income is from a bonus and it is taxed at the aggregation method, you will get a good sized refund to even this out.
I work at a car dealer and my employer is taxing my commission as a bonus! Is this right? I earn a commission as a % of sales but they list it as a bonus on my paystub which results in a flat 25% tax. Reply
My employer taxes my vacation check as a luxury taxes at 28 percent 2400 and I received 1400 why do they tax it like that.and how do I stop them from doing this they take the luxury out of my vacation. Please help Reply
My employer gives me a w2 for taxs withheld and when I get a bonus they give me a 1099 for the bonus my CPA tells me this is not right if anybody knows the law on this please help me understand Reply
I do not think that is right for you to get a 1099 for your bonus, unless it was not taxed at all. It should be wages (supplemental) but still wages. Reply
Your CPA is correct. Your employer is treating your bonus like a sub-contractor’s labor payment. He is avoiding the taxes he should pay (FICA) on the bonus by doing this. This also transfers the tax burden to you in the way of having to now pay the FICA for both the employer and your share. And to add insult to injury, you could be charged a self employment tax on what is essentially being reported as self employment income. The IRS could charge the employer for misclassifying labor wages and fine the employer. I’ve seen upwards of $40,000 in fines for a hospital who practiced this same policy. Additionally, when you file your taxes, your W-2 and the 1099 will have the same EIN from that employer. That’s a huge red flag for you and the employer to be audited. I would urge the employer to stop this practice. Reply
Your CPA is right. You’re an employee, so all wages paid should be treated like wages, including bonuses. It sounds like they don’t know the rules or they are trying to work around the rules. Reply
Your CPA is correct. Your bonus belongs on your W-2. A 1099 is for an independent contractor, not an employee. https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2674532-how-do-i-report-a-bonus-from-employer-not-included-on-w2 Reply
This information was very useful. It offered a clear explanation as to why my $200 incentive bonuses end up as $129 deposits. Reply
Does the Flat Tax withholding of 25% include Unemployment and Medicare? if not, i think this would be a good point to mention. Reply
I live in New york city so I have Federal, state and NY city taxes taken from my check. Is the 25% only for Federal taxes? I also have 401k taken out at 3%. The gross was 2481.61. The pay out was almost half. Does this sound correct? It looks like an awful amount taken for taxes. Reply
This article is very misleading and incorrectly refers to taxes and “tax impact” of bonuses. Bonuses, like all supplemental wages, are TAXED EXACTLY THE SAME as all other income — only the temporary WITHHOLDING is different. After your personal tax return is filed and any refund is received, the employee receives the EXACT SAME amount of money from the bonus that they would have if it were regular pay. The author should post a correction. Reply
Thanks for spelling that out. I was trying to get this question answered to decide on how I should allocate a portion of my bonus for pre-tax 401k. Since only the withholding and not the *actual* tax is different, it doesn’t make a difference from a tax perspective whether I contribute bonus dollars or salary dollars. IOW I can just focus on deciding how I want to time my contributions & what level of take-home I want each month. The idea that bonus is taxed differently is pervasive but I just couldn’t believe what people were telling me. Reply
Please put a note on the article explaining this is only about withholding and not about actual tax you pay when you file. It’s a good article that explains why one gets higher withholding on bonus payouts but does not put at ease by saying if that’s more than normal you would get back extra withholding while you file your returns. Reply
Hi Bill, I recently received a commission check from my employer, and it appears that it was taxed with the aggregate method (paid in conjunction with a pay check). assuming everything else with my income/deductions remains the same, does it stand to reason that I’ll receive a larger than usual tax return next year, to account for the larger withholdings from this one check? Reply
How do I handle a bonus I received (untaxed) from a prior employer? I received a retro bonus in the amount of $ 65000 with nothing withheld. Reply
If I’d seen this sooner, I would have advised to send in an estimated tax payment to the IRS but the deadline for estimated tax payments for the previous calendar year would have been January 15th. Hope you got an answer sooner than now. Reply
I mostly use PDFfiller, Inc. to fill out my tax documents online. It’s not the same thing, but maybe someone needs it. It also allows you to erase in a pdf and esign. It’s pretty easy to use and it’s pretty cheap. I think you can get a free week if you and a friend both register. Reply
The author does not clearly distinguish between tax and tax withholding. This is an extremely poorly written article. Reply
employer offering early retirement “buyout” Offer is $100,000 to be given 12/1/2014. What will the taxes be? Reply
Depends on your employer. Having gone through something very similar at the end of the tax year, my payout was up to what I would have made for this calendar year, and the remainder deferred to the following calendar year. In the eyes of the IRS, I won’t be making double my salary for one year. Reply
My recent paycheck was $1735 before taxes. And I had a $725 bonus on same check…after taxes. Removing 433.05 for federal….and 96.96 for state and local and 178.70 for insurance…..how is it so I only receive $1751.29 from $ 2460.00. I’ve been told bonuses are taxed higher and are withheld by govt. How much of that do you get back and how much am I being taxed Reply