How much tax will I pay on my bonus? What you keep, country by country

There is no separate bonus tax in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland or New Zealand: a bonus is ordinary pay (IRS, HMRC, CRA, Irish Revenue, IRD and Australia's withholding schedule for bonuses). Take a $10,000 bonus on a $60,000 Texas salary. Payroll withholds $2,965: $2,200 under the flat 22% method plus $765 Social Security and Medicare, which apply whatever the method. In our calculator the bonus costs $2,318 over the year, because its federal tax at 2026 bracket rates is only $1,553. If the salary's own withholding is right, the other $647 comes back as a refund when you file your return.

How we got the figures: our income tax calculator covers 21 countries and works out a year's tax, but has no bonus field and shows no payroll withholding. So each year figure is two runs (salary alone, then salary plus bonus; single, defaults otherwise) and the difference is what the bonus costs. Tax years: US, Canada, Ireland and the other European countries 2026; UK, Australia and NZ 2026-27. Withheld figures follow each country's payroll method and assume the salary's own withholding is right. None include student loans, pre-tax 401(k) deductions or salary sacrifice.

Why is my bonus taxed so high?

Because the bonus payslip shows withholding, and withholding is only a payroll estimate. The year's tax is settled later (IRS, HMRC, CRA and IRD). How each country estimates:

• In the US, the flat-rate method (one of two) withholds 22% federal whatever your bracket (37% above $1 million).
• In the UK, PAYE taxes the bonus in the tax period it is paid, usually based on your pay so far in the tax year.
• In Canada, payroll works out the year's tax with and without the bonus.
• In Australia, the method depends on the period the bonus covers.
• In Ireland, tax is cumulative from 1 January.
• In New Zealand, the rate comes from recent pay annualized plus the bonus.

In our UK, Australian, Irish and New Zealand payroll runs the payslip lands on the year figure or within A$40 of it, with three exceptions: the UK December timing effect, the UK taper above £100,000 and the Australian Medicare levy surcharge line.

How much tax will I pay on my bonus in the US?

For 2026 the federal supplemental withholding rate remains 22%, or 37% on supplemental wages over $1 million in the year.

Over is withheld minus owed; a negative figure is owed when you file. Below $100,000 the figures use the IRS tax-table rows. Social Security and Medicare are $765 at $60,000 or $100,000 and $235 at $200,000, where the salary is past the $184,500 wage base and 0.9% Additional Medicare applies over $200,000. Kept in Texas: $7,682 (76.8%), $7,035 (70.4%) and $7,365 (73.7%).

Federally, the flat rate applies when the bonus is paid separately or shown as a separate amount on the same check (IRS Publication 15). In California it applies only when the bonus is not paid at the same time as regular wages (EDD DE 44). Withheld uses flat supplemental rates: 10.23% in California, 11.70% in New York and 4.25% more in New York City. Kept: California $5,976 (59.8%), New York $6,419 (64.2%) and NYC $6,054 (60.5%). California includes SDI at 1.3% with no wage limit ($130).

The aggregate method is the other way IRS Publication 15 lets an employer withhold on a bonus: payroll adds the bonus to the period's regular wages, works out withholding as if the total were one regular paycheck, subtracts the tax already withheld from the wages and withholds the rest from the bonus. That changes what is withheld, and the return settles the year's tax either way. A new Form W-4 also changes withholding.

How much tax will I pay on my bonus in the UK?

December is the extra income tax on the December payslip; Year is what PAYE on code 1257L takes over the tax year; Kept is the bonus minus Year minus December's NI.

In 2026-27 employee National Insurance is 8% between £1,048 and £4,189 a month and 2% above, charged on the pay of the month the bonus is paid in. At £40,000 (£3,333 a month) NI on a £10,000 bonus is £251, where a yearly figure would suggest £800.

Why does December take £2,458 at £40,000 when the year takes £2,000? Because in our payroll run, December pay to date passes nine months' share of the basic-rate band (£28,275), so part of the bonus is taxed at 40% that month. January to March then take £458 less (Scotland £193).

March pay is the last monthly pay of a tax year that ends on 5 April, so in our run a March bonus meets the whole year's allowance and bands and takes the Year figure at once: £2,000 at £40,000 and £2,944 at £45,000 (Scotland £3,429 and £4,200). We did not compute other months.

At £45,000 about £4,700 of the bonus sits above £50,270 (where the higher rate starts) and stays at 40%: December takes £3,208, January to March give back £264 and December NI is £226. In Scotland the salary is already in the 42% band from £43,663, so the whole bonus pays 42%, as at £60,000 (England 40%). NI is 2% (£200) at £60,000.

At £95,000 the year's tax on the bonus is £5,000 (Scotland £5,625), because the personal allowance falls £1 for every £2 over £100,000. PAYE on code 1257L takes £4,000 (£4,500) in December or March, leaving £1,000 (£1,125) of the year's tax untaken. Kept after £200 NI: £4,800 (£4,175). After 5 April HMRC sends a P800 or Simple Assessment letter if too much or too little was paid; Self Assessment bills are adjusted instead.

Between £100,000 and £125,140 the rate works out to 60% (Scotland 67.5%), by our calculation. An employee may sacrifice a one-off item such as a bonus, for example for an employer pension payment, but a bonus given up after it counts as earnings is still taxed. These figures do not model it.

How much tax will I pay on my bonus in Canada (Ontario)?

In Ontario a bonus adds income tax at your own rate, plus CPP and EI below their maximums.

Rate is Owed divided by the bonus. CRA's bonus method withholds the tax on the year's pay with the bonus minus the tax without it, so its income tax part follows the same logic as Owed; we did not reproduce it to the dollar. On a C$5,000 bonus at C$60,000 that logic takes roughly 36% of the bonus with CPP and EI (below), not 50%. Any excess generally comes back as a refund.

At C$60,000 a C$5,000 bonus adds C$1,784 (C$379 of it CPP and EI), so C$3,216 (64.3%) is kept. At C$100,000 it adds C$1,574 (all income tax) and C$3,426 (68.5%) is kept.

CPP and EI apply to bonuses until their yearly maximums: CPP 5.95% up to C$74,600 of pensionable earnings, CPP2 4% from there to C$85,000 and EI 1.63% up to C$68,900 of insurable earnings (CRA 2026 rates). A C$100,000 salary is past all three maximums, so its bonus pays income tax only and shows a lower rate than at C$60,000.

So are bonuses taxed at 50% in Canada? Only at the top: in Ontario the rate works out to 53.5% above the top federal bracket at C$258,482, where 33% federal plus Ontario's 13.16% with the Ontario surtax applies (our calculation). Other provinces have their own rates.

How much tax will I pay on my bonus in Australia?

Gap is withheld minus owed; a negative gap is tax this method does not withhold.

Bonuses fall under Schedule 5 of the Taxation Administration (Withholding Schedules) Instrument 2026. A single-period bonus is added to that period's pay under the regular table; a longer or undefined period uses Method A or B(ii).

Method A spreads the bonus over the year's pay periods, adds one share to a period's pay and multiplies the extra withholding back up, capped at 47% of the bonus. At A$80,000 paid monthly it withholds A$1,560 from an A$5,000 bonus against A$1,600 for the year, so A$3,400 (68.0%) is kept. On A$10,000 you keep A$6,800 (68.0%), A$6,375 (63.8%) and A$5,150 (51.5%).

Why the A$457 gap at A$120,000? A$425 of it is the Medicare levy surcharge line in these runs; the Method A calculation has no surcharge part, and with private hospital cover the gap is -A$32. A payee liable for the surcharge can ask the payer to withhold more. At A$200,000 the cap turns A$4,728 into A$4,700 (the with-cover year figure); the A$150 gap is the same surcharge line.

How much tax will I pay on my bonus in Ireland?

At €45,000 a single earner's whole bonus is above the €44,000 standard rate band: 40% income tax, 3% USC and PRSI. USC's 8% band starts above €70,044, so at €70,000 the first €44 is still at 3% and USC is €398. Above €70,044 each extra euro works out to 52.35% (40 + 8 + 4.35). Because tax is cumulative, by the last pay day of the year the tax deducted adds up to the tax due on the year's pay. PRSI is weekly, 4.35% from 1 October 2026 and 4.2% before. The Statement of Liability shows any overpayment or underpayment, and refunds go to the bank account on your Revenue record within three to five working days.

How much tax will I pay on my bonus in New Zealand?

Payroll annualizes your regular pay, adds the bonus and takes the rate from that total. In both runs withholding equals the year figure. KiwiSaver at the 3.5% default also comes off the bonus, because bonuses count as gross wages for KiwiSaver. That is NZ$175, saved in your own scheme. After 31 March, if your only income is already taxed (salary, wages or investment income), IRD works out the year's tax and shows a refund, a bill or nothing due.

A 10% bonus in 18 countries: how much you keep

Same test everywhere: each country's example salary in our calculator plus a 10% bonus, single, at its default place (Texas for the US). Year figures; salaries sit at different points in each country's brackets.

UK (Eng) uses NI on the one monthly pay with the bonus (£134). US (TX) has no state income tax line; California, on 2025 brackets, is left out. Canada (ON) includes C$96 of CPP2 and C$150 of Ontario Health Premium, which rises from C$600 to C$750 as taxable income goes from C$72,000 to C$72,600. Ireland uses December PRSI at 4.35%. NZ is without KiwiSaver (63.4% with it). In our calculator's lines, smaller tax credits account for €777 of Italy's €1,886 extra Irpef and €620 of the Dutch €2,423 (the rest is the 37.56% bracket). Australia, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Iceland carry the calculator's note that not every figure has been checked against an official calculator yet.

Not ranked: Singapore (bonuses and other additional wages are not modeled), Belgium (the 13th month is not modeled) and Austria, where the model uses 14 equal salaries and the part of a bonus above one sixth of the year's regular pay is taxed like regular pay.

Is a Christmas bonus or 13th-month pay taxable?

Yes, with some local rules:

• In the US, cash and gift cards, however small, are never a tax-free de minimis benefit.
• In the UK, a cash Christmas bonus counts as earnings.
• In Ireland up to five non-cash small benefits a year, worth up to €1,500 together, can be tax-free; cash and vouchers redeemable for cash do not qualify.
• In Germany, one-off Weihnachtsgeld and 13th or 14th salaries are sonstige Bezüge, withheld as the annual tax with them minus the annual tax without them and taxed in the year received. In these figures a €5,000 bonus at €60,000 keeps €2,528 (50.6%); German payroll was not checked.
• In Austria the 13th and 14th salaries get fixed rates within one sixth of the year's regular pay: the first €620 at 0% and the next €24,380 at 6%. In Vienna you keep 78.6% of them at €38,000 and 78.4% at €60,000; these figures also carry the calculator's note that not every figure has been checked against an official calculator yet.
• In the Netherlands special-reward tables apply to bonuses and year-end payments.
• In Singapore a contractual bonus is taxed in the year of entitlement (usually the year worked) and a non-contractual one generally by payment date.

Questions people ask

How much tax will I pay on a $10,000 bonus?

In our runs, payroll in Texas at $60,000 withholds $2,965 ($2,200 under the flat 22% method plus $765 Social Security and Medicare) against a $2,318 year cost. At A$80,000 Method A withholds A$3,168 against A$3,200 of income tax and Medicare levy. At £40,000 in England, December takes £2,458 income tax plus £251 National Insurance against PAYE's £2,000 income tax for the year.

How much tax is usually taken from a bonus?

About 30% in the US under the flat-rate method before state withholding ($2,200 federal plus $765 Social Security and Medicare on $10,000, under the $184,500 wage base), £2,709 of a £10,000 December bonus at £40,000 (£2,458 income tax plus £251 National Insurance) and A$3,168 under Method A at A$80,000 (UnityCalc calculations).

Why did 40% of my bonus go to taxes?

In our US runs, state withholding on top of federal takes it past 40%: at $100,000 with flat-rate withholding a $10,000 bonus loses $4,118 (about 41%) in California, $4,135 (about 41%) in New York outside NYC and $4,560 (about 46%) in NYC. California's $4,118 is $2,200 federal, $1,023 state, $765 Social Security and Medicare plus $130 SDI. Year cost: $4,024, $3,581 and $3,946. California uses 2025 brackets.

How is tax on a bonus calculated in Canada?

Payroll takes the tax on the year's pay with the bonus minus the tax without it, plus CPP and EI. In our Ontario run a C$5,000 bonus on C$60,000 adds C$1,784 (C$1,405 income tax plus C$379 CPP and EI), so C$3,216 (64.3%) is kept.

Are bonuses taxed at 50% in Canada?

No flat 50% applies. In Ontario our runs give 31.5% to 45.0% at salaries up to C$160,000; the rate works out to 53.5% only above C$258,482 (our calculation from CRA rates). Other provinces have their own rates.

Are bonuses taxed higher in the UK?

In England only pay between £50,270 and £125,140 is taxed at 40%. In our run a £10,000 December bonus at £40,000 has £2,458 income tax taken against £2,000 by PAYE over the year; January to March give the £458 back.

What is the 60% tax trap?

In our £95,000 run a £10,000 bonus costs £5,000 income tax, as the allowance falls £1 for every £2 over £100,000; payroll on code 1257L takes £4,000. Between £100,000 and £125,140 the rate works out to 60% by our calculation. The taper uses adjusted net income: taxable income less certain reliefs such as grossed-up Gift Aid and pension contributions.

What is Method A and how is it calculated?

One of the Schedule 5 methods, for a bonus covering more than one pay period or an undefined period: it spreads the bonus over the year's pay periods and multiplies the extra withholding back up, capped at 47%. At A$80,000 paid monthly it withholds A$3,168 on A$10,000 in our run.

Do bonuses get taxed twice?

No. Withholding is a prepayment, and the return or year-end statement settles the difference. Our runs give a refund in the US at $60,000 and tax owed in the US at $200,000 or the UK at £95,000 (settled after 5 April). In Canada an overpayment generally comes back as a refund; Ireland's Statement of Liability shows any overpayment, though our Irish runs show none. New Zealand's IRD assessment shows either. Australian gaps are tax Method A does not withhold.