Originally Posted by
AboveAndBeyond
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.
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/
That's what I'm suggesting, is that hopefully he gets a refund for the difference after tax returns. If he made 55k this past year, and lived in Charlotte like a lot of our pilots, he should only pay 25% of his total income including state. So taking home just over 41k and change.