Gross-Up Calculator: Net to Gross Pay and Bonuses (2026)

What does grossing up mean?

Grossing up means raising a payment so the person receiving it keeps a set amount after taxes. Employers usually do it with one-time payments, such as a signing bonus, an award, a relocation payment or a settlement, when they promise the employee a net figure.

The catch is that the extra money is wages too. IRS Publication 15 says that when an employer pays an employee’s share of Social Security and Medicare instead of withholding it, those payments count as more wages, and that increase is subject to Social Security and Medicare as well. So a gross-up has to cover the tax on the original amount and the tax on the gross-up itself.

Employees use the same math in reverse for planning. If you know the take-home pay you need each payday, a net to gross calculation tells you the salary or hourly rate to ask for.

How does the gross-up calculator work?

The calculator above has two modes.

In paycheck mode there is no single rate to divide by, because brackets, the standard deduction and the Social Security cap all change as pay rises. The calculator tries a gross amount, runs the full 2026 tax model, and halves the search range until the take-home lands within a cent of your target. A check line under the results shows the gross pay found and the take-home it produces.

State tax data loads only when you pick a state. You can copy a link that reopens your numbers (it holds numbers only, nothing personal), copy the results as text, or print them.

What is the gross up formula?

For a payment taxed at flat rates, the gross up formula is:

Gross pay = net pay ÷ (1 - total tax rate)

For a bonus paid on its own in 2026, the federal pieces are the 22% supplemental withholding rate, 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare. That makes a total rate of 29.65%, so the divisor is 0.7035.

Worked example. Northwind Logistics promises Jordan Lee a $5,000 bonus after taxes. Jordan has earned $60,000 so far this year and lives in Texas, which has no income tax on wages.

A common mistake is to add 29.65% to the net amount. That gives $6,482.50, and after 29.65% withholding Jordan would keep only $4,560.44, which is $439.56 short. Dividing is what covers the tax on the tax.

How do you gross up a bonus?

IRS Publication 15 lets an employer withhold federal income tax from supplemental wages at a flat 22% when two conditions hold: the bonus is paid separately from regular wages (or combined with them and the amount of each is specified), and income tax was withheld from the employee’s regular wages in the current or previous year. Once an employee’s supplemental wages for the year pass $1 million, the excess must be withheld at 37%.

To gross up a bonus with that method:

1. List the rates. 22% federal, 6.2% Social Security if the employee’s wages are under $184,500 for the year, 1.45% Medicare, plus the state rate if the state withholds on the bonus.
2. Subtract the total from 1. With no state tax, 1 - 0.2965 = 0.7035.
3. Divide the net bonus by the result. $5,000 ÷ 0.7035 = $7,107.32.
4. Check it. Figure each tax on the gross amount and confirm the net matches.
5. Watch the limits. If the bonus crosses the Social Security wage base, the $200,000 Additional Medicare point or $1 million, the single rate no longer fits. Switch the calculator above to “One-time payment” and it solves the exact amount.

Employers can instead use the aggregate method: figure withholding as if the bonus and the regular wages were a single payment, using the Publication 15-T methods, then subtract the tax already withheld from the regular wages. That usually withholds a different amount than 22%, so the gross-up changes too. Either way, withholding is a prepayment. The employee’s real tax on the bonus is settled on the tax return, and the bonus tax calculator shows how much of the withholding you may get back or still owe.

How do you gross up relocation or moving payments?

Most relocation money is taxable wages in 2026, so employers who want an employee to receive a set amount gross it up like a bonus.

Here is what IRS guidance says, verified on October 22, 2026:

• 2018 through 2025: the 2017 tax law (Public Law 115-97) suspended the exclusion for qualified moving expense reimbursements, so employers had to include them in wages.
• 2026 and later: Publication 15-B (2026) says the 2025 tax law (Public Law 119-21) permanently eliminates the exclusion.
• Exceptions: active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces who move under a military order for a permanent change of station can still exclude qualified reimbursements. The 2025 law extends the exclusion to employees and new appointees of the intelligence community who relocate because of a change in assignment.
• Withholding: Publication 15 lists payments for nondeductible moving expenses as supplemental wages, so the 22% flat rate can apply.

Relocation example. Contoso offers Casey Morgan $10,000 after taxes to move. Casey has earned $85,000 so far this year.

The California move costs Contoso $1,798.17 more in gross pay for the same $10,000 in Casey’s hands.

What salary do you need for a given take-home pay?

This is the reverse paycheck question: you know what you need to deposit each payday, and you want the salary that gets you there. The calculator above answers it for any state, pay schedule and filing status.

$2,000 of take-home pay every two weeks, single filer, no pre-tax deductions, 2026:

Washington has no income tax on wages, but its paid family leave and WA Cares premiums still come out of each check, which is why it needs more than Texas.

$60,000 of take-home pay a year, single filer: $72,736.32 in Texas or Florida, $75,039.20 in Ohio, $77,144.28 in Georgia, $78,020.20 in Illinois, $78,354.00 in California, $78,434.24 in New York and $78,517.49 in Massachusetts.

Filing status matters as much as the state. To take home $100,000 a year in Texas, a single filer needs $129,822.97, while a married couple filing jointly on one salary needs $119,029.25, because the joint brackets and standard deduction are wider. The 2026 tax brackets show where each salary lands.

Savings change the answer too. With 6% going to a traditional 401(k) and $100 of health premiums each paycheck, the Texas salary for $2,000 every two weeks rises from $62,003.76 to $69,147.52. Part of that gap is money you keep, $4,148.85 a year in the 401(k).

Your schedule changes the per-paycheck amount but not the yearly math. See how many pay periods are in a year to convert a target, and use the raise calculator to see how far your current pay is from the salary you need.

How do the Social Security wage base and Additional Medicare change a gross-up?

Two federal limits make the 29.65% formula wrong for higher earners.

• Social Security wage base. The 6.2% tax stops once an employee’s wages reach $184,500 for 2026.
• Additional Medicare Tax. Employers must withhold an extra 0.9% on wages over $200,000 in a calendar year, without regard to filing status or wages from another employer, according to the IRS. There is no employer share.

Crossing the wage base. Avery Brooks has earned $180,000 this year and is promised $10,000 net. Only $4,500 of the bonus is under the wage base, so Social Security is $279.00 instead of 6.2% of the whole payment. The exact gross is $13,427.82. The simple formula says $14,214.64, which would overpay Avery by $786.82.

Passing $200,000. Taylor Reed has earned $195,000 and is promised $20,000 net. Social Security is already done, and the Additional Medicare Tax applies to the $21,378.06 of wages above $200,000, adding $192.40. The exact gross is $26,378.06, against $28,429.28 from the simple formula.

Over $1 million. An executive with $400,000 of earlier wages is promised $1,000,000 net. Federal withholding is $220,000 on the first $1 million and 37% on the rest, or $368,549.05 in all. With Medicare and the Additional Medicare Tax, the gross is $1,401,483.92.

For paychecks, the same limits explain why the gross-up rate is not constant. Taking home $150,000 a year in Texas as a single filer takes $201,456.89, and Social Security stops at $11,439.00, which is 6.2% of $184,500.

How do state taxes affect a gross-up?

State rules vary more than federal ones, so the calculator handles them two ways.

In paycheck mode it uses each state’s 2026 brackets, deductions and credits, plus local taxes where you pick them, and adds the state’s payroll programs, such as California State Disability Insurance at 1.3% with no wage cap, or New York’s disability and paid family leave contributions.

In one-time payment mode you enter the state withholding rate, because states handle supplemental pay differently. Some set a flat rate, some use their regular tables, and nine states have no income tax on wages. California, for example, publishes two flat rates in its employer information sheet DE 231PS: 10.23% for bonuses and stock options and 6.6% for other supplemental wages. With 10.23% and SDI, the total rate for a California bonus is 41.18%, so $5,000 net needs $8,500.51 gross. At a 5% state rate with no payroll program, the same $5,000 needs $7,651.11.

Check your state revenue agency’s employer guide for its supplemental rate, and add any local rate to the same field. The state you pick still adds its payroll programs, each up to its own yearly wage cap.

Gross-up examples from the calculator

Every figure below comes from the calculator above with 2026 rules. One-time payments assume the federal flat rate method and no other supplemental pay that year.

The gross-up rate is the tax share of the gross amount, the number that makes gross = net ÷ (1 - rate) true. Notice that it falls for Avery and Taylor, because Social Security stops partway through the year.

For a line-by-line view of any salary the calculator finds, run it through the paycheck calculator.

These results are estimates. Employer payroll systems round each tax to the cent, may use the aggregate method, and follow each employee’s Form W-4, so a tax or payroll professional can confirm the exact amount for a large or unusual payment.