How it works
A paycheck calculator goes one way: gross pay in, taxes out, net pay left. A gross-up runs it backwards. Because withholding uses brackets, wage caps and state tables, there’s no clean formula for most paychecks, so the calculator searches for the answer. It runs the full 2026 payroll calculation again and again, halving the range each time, until it finds the smallest gross amount, to the cent, whose take-home is at least your target. One cent less and the net would fall short.
The breakdown under the result shows each tax on that gross amount, so you can check the math line by line.
Regular paycheck
Use this mode when you know what you need in your account each payday, for example to cover rent and bills, and want the salary that delivers it.
Example: a single filer in Texas, paid every two weeks, wants $2,000 per check.
- Gross per check: $2,384.77, or $62,004.02 a year
- Federal income tax: $202.33
- Social Security (6.2%): $147.86
- Medicare (1.45%): $34.58
- Take-home: $2,000.00
The same $2,000 in California needs $2,542.64 gross, because state income tax ($93.81) and State Disability Insurance ($33.05, 1.3%) come out too.
The paycheck mode assumes a standard 2026 W-4 with no dependents, no extra withholding and no pre-tax deductions such as a 401(k) or health insurance. If you have those, the gross you need is higher than shown.
One-time bonus
Use this mode to promise someone an exact amount in hand. The bonus is paid together with a regular check and withheld with the flat supplemental method:
- Federal income tax at 22% (37% on supplemental pay above $1 million in a year)
- Social Security at 6.2% until yearly wages reach $184,500, and Medicare at 1.45% (plus 0.9% on wages above $200,000)
- Your state’s supplemental rate or regular withholding, whichever its rules use
Example: a $1,000 net bonus for an employee earning $60,000 in Texas needs a $1,421.46 gross bonus. In California it takes $1,700.09, because California withholds 10.23% from bonuses on top of 1.3% SDI.
The regular salary matters for two reasons: it decides whether Social Security still applies (once wages pass $184,500 for the year it stops), and states that don’t use a flat supplemental rate tax the bonus together with the regular check.
Gross-up vs the actual tax bill
Withholding isn’t the final tax. The employee’s real tax on a grossed-up payment is settled on their return together with the rest of their income. The gross-up makes sure the check shows the promised amount; at tax time, the bonus may turn out to be over- or under-withheld depending on the rest of their year.
Employers sometimes gross up only for federal income tax and FICA, or use the aggregate method instead of the flat rate. Both change the result; the flat method shown here is the most common for bonuses paid separately or itemized on a check.
Limits
- Local income taxes aren’t included.
- Very large amounts can cross wage caps mid-year (Social Security, some state disability taxes); the calculator applies them to this single check as if it were the first of the year.
To check a regular paycheck forward, use the paycheck calculator. To see what a bonus of a given size pays out, use the bonus tax calculator.