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Bonuses and commissions · 2026-27

Bonus tax calculator

See what is withheld from a bonus, what it really costs in tax, and what comes back at tax time.

FY 2026-27 Schedule 5 · verified

Withholding schedule verified against the official sources — how we check.

Paid each

Bonus in your pay

$640

From a bonus of $900, with $260 withheld under the ATO’s Method A.

How it’s made up

The bonus$900
Withheld from it (Method A)−$260
In your pay$640
Its tax for the year, with Medicare$288
What you keep of it$612
On the bonus alone, at tax time$28 to pay
The whole year, at tax time$360 back
This pay, after withholding$1,773
Super on it, if it is for ordinary hours$108
Your bonus at payday, and at tax time

Enter your details above to see this.

A single resident, 2026-27 rates, the same regular pay all year and no other income. Withholding is income tax and Medicare under Schedule 1 and Schedule 5, Method A.

There is no special tax rate on a bonus. It is ordinary income, taxed at your marginal rate like the top dollars of your pay; what differs is how much your employer takes on the day it is paid. The same table covers annual leave you cash out while staying in the job.

How your employer works it out

The ATO’s Schedule 5 gives employers two methods for a bonus that is not for a single pay period, and accepts either. This is Method A, worked on the figures above.

Schedule 5 Method A, step by step, for the bonus entered above
StepWhat it doesHere
1Gross earnings for the pay period excluding the additional payment, ignoring cents$1,400
2Withholding on step 1 from the tax table$267
3The bonus divided by the pay periods it is spread over, ignoring cents$17
4Step 1 plus step 3$1,417
5Withholding on step 4 from the tax table$272
6Step 5 minus step 2$5
7Step 6 multiplied by the pay periods used at step 3$260
8The additional payment multiplied by 47%$423
9The lesser of step 7 and step 8, ignoring cents$260

Opening figures: the ATO’s own Example 1 — $1,400 a week and a $900 bonus, $260 withheld.

A bonus for one pay period is different

If the bonus is for work in a single pay period, it is not treated as a bonus for withholding at all: it is added to that pay and the normal table applies, with no 47% limit. The PAYG withholding calculator shows the table itself.

Why the withholding and the real tax differ a little

Method A ignores cents at three of its steps and works from the withholding table, which is itself an approximation, so it lands a little above or below the bonus’s real tax; the ATO says its Method B is more complex but more likely to approximate the tax actually payable, and that either is acceptable. Whatever the difference, it is settled with the rest of your year when your return is assessed. A bonus is taxed exactly as a pay rise of the same amount for the year would be.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my bonus get taxed so much?
Because the withholding on it works out roughly what the bonus adds to your tax for the whole year, and takes it all from one pay. The ATO's Method A spreads the bonus across the year's pays, finds the extra tax on one of them and multiplies it back up — so the bonus is withheld at close to your marginal rate, not your average one. A $10,000 bonus on $90,000 a year has $3,224 withheld, while your normal pay has a smaller share taken because it also carries the tax-free threshold and the lower bands.
Is a bonus taxed at a higher rate than my normal pay?
No. There is no separate bonus rate. At tax time a bonus is ordinary income, taxed at the rate of the band it lands in, exactly like a pay rise of the same amount for the year. Only the withholding is worked out differently, and whatever it gets wrong is settled when your return is assessed.
How much tax will I pay on a $10,000 bonus?
On a salary of $90,000, $3,200 in income tax and the Medicare levy, so you keep $6,800 — 30c a dollar for the band and 2c for the levy. On a higher or lower salary the rate is whatever your top dollars are taxed at; the calculator above works it out for your pay.
Do I get super on my bonus?
For the kinds the ATO lists, yes: performance, Christmas, sign-on and referral bonuses are ordinary time earnings, so the 12% super guarantee is paid on them — $1,200 on a $10,000 bonus. The exception is a bonus paid solely for work done entirely outside your ordinary hours, which the ATO treats as overtime.
Will I get the tax on my bonus back?
Only the part that was over-withheld. The bonus's real tax stays; what comes back is the difference between what was withheld across the year and your actual tax. On the ATO's own example — $1,400 a week and a $900 bonus — Method A withholds $260 against a real $288 on the bonus, but the year as a whole still comes out $360 back for a single resident with no other income.
What is the most that can be withheld from a bonus?
47% of it, including any study loan amount, when your employer uses Method A or Method B(ii). The ATO notes that the limit can leave the withholding short of your year-end tax — for instance when a study loan repayment is also due — in which case you can agree an upwards withholding variation with your employer. A bonus for a single pay period is not under this limit — it simply goes through the normal table with that pay.

Where these rules come from

How we check sets out how every figure on this site is verified.