Originally Posted by
I hate desks
My buddy said he got taxed at just over 39%. I thought that was crazy, because that's way too high. But he showed me he only got ~10k of the $16,765 bonus. His referral bonus was the same story.
Hopefully he gets the rest back after taxes are done.
That's probably not too far from the truth. What tax bracket is your friend in (or what did he complete on his paperwork)? Without deductions and with a decent income, Federal taxes alone are 30% or so and plus state taxes and other withholdings. Social Security and Medicare withholdings are about 7% (6.2% and 1.45% respectively).
Contrary to popular belief, taxes are NOT taxed at a higher rate than normal. You may pay more in taxes on the bonus, or less - depending if the company uses an aggregate or fixed percentage model, but at the end of the year, it doesn't matter if you were paid all in bonuses or no bonuses at all. It is all taxed the same as income and your overall tax burden for the year is the same.
https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/inc...-the-irs-8003/
Whether you were given bonuses or the hourly wages are increased, you would pay the same in taxes on the same amount of money made.