What does IRS consider supplemental wages?
Mia Ramsey
Published Mar 01, 2026
Supplemental wages include: Commissions. Overtime pay (if paid separately from regular wages). Payments for accumulated sick leave.
Is Retropay considered supplemental wages?
Retro pay is a type of supplemental pay. Supplemental wages are additional compensation you give employees. To withhold federal income tax from supplemental pay, you must either use the percentage or aggregate method.
How does supplemental income get taxed?
A bonus is always a welcome bump in pay, but it’s taxed differently from regular income. Instead of adding it to your ordinary income and taxing it at your top marginal tax rate, the IRS considers bonuses to be “supplemental wages” and levies a flat 22 percent federal withholding rate.
Do you withhold income tax on supplemental wages?
In addition, that withholding is done without regard to the employee’s W-4 form. If you pay supplemental wages with regular wages (i.e., in the same check) but don’t specify the amount of each, you would withhold federal income tax as if the total were a single payment for a regular payroll period.
What does the IRS mean by supplemental income?
According to 2018’s IRS Publication 15, (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide, supplemental wages are simply “wage payments to an employee that are not regular wages.” Most states have similar definitions of supplemental wages. The IRS considers many types of employee pay as supplemental income, including but not limited to:
What’s the highest tax rate for supplemental wages?
There is one major exception to the above rules. If an employee receives more than $1 million of supplemental wages during the calendar year, then any supplemental wages paid in excess of $1 million are “subject to withholding at the rate of 37% (or the highest rate of income tax for the year).”.
What do you need to know about employer supplemental tax guide?
Additional information. Social security and Medicare taxes. Federal unemployment (FUTA) tax. Income tax. Reporting payments to statutory employees. H-2A agricultural workers. Direct sellers. Licensed real estate agents. Companion sitters. Consequences of treating an employee as an independent contractor. Relief provision.