Why your bonus feels like it's taxed to oblivion — and the legal ways to keep more of it
A bonus is employment income. HMRC treats it exactly the same as your regular salary — it is added to your gross pay for the pay period in which it is received and taxed via PAYE (Pay As You Earn).
There is no special "bonus tax rate." Your employer's payroll software adds the bonus to your gross pay, works out your annualised income for that period, and applies the appropriate Income Tax and National Insurance rates.
The good news: HMRC reconciles your actual annual income at the end of the tax year. If you were overtaxed because of a one-off bonus, you will receive a refund — either automatically through payroll or via a self-assessment return.
In 2026/27 the Income Tax bands for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are:
| Band | Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Basic Rate | £12,571 – £50,270 | 20% |
| Higher Rate | £50,271 – £125,140 | 40% |
| Additional Rate | Over £125,140 | 45% |
Your marginal rate is the rate that applies to the next pound you earn. If your salary is £38,000, your marginal rate is 20% — the next pound of earnings is taxed at the Basic Rate. If your salary is £52,000, your marginal rate is 40% — every additional pound is taxed at the Higher Rate.
Bonuses are always taxed at your marginal rate (or rates, if the bonus straddles a band boundary).
If a bonus straddles a tax band boundary, you don't pay the higher rate on all of it — only on the portion above the threshold.
Example: salary of £48,000. The Higher Rate threshold is £50,270 (that's £50,270 − £12,570 = £37,700 of taxable income). You've already used £35,430 of your Basic Rate band (£48,000 − £12,570). You have £37,700 − £35,430 = £2,270 of Basic Rate band remaining.
A £5,000 bonus:
Your payslip will reflect PAYE calculations based on the annualised figure. The split above represents your full-year liability — HMRC will sort any timing differences across pay periods at year-end.
Bonuses also attract Class 1 National Insurance contributions — both employee and employer. The 2026/27 employee NI rates are:
| Weekly earnings | Annual equivalent | Employee NI rate |
|---|---|---|
| Up to £242/week | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| £242 – £967/week | £12,571 – £50,270 | 8% |
| Over £967/week | Over £50,270 | 2% |
So a bonus received when you're already above £50,270 will attract 2% NI. If it sits within the £12,571–£50,270 band, you'll pay 8% NI on that portion.
Your employer also pays NI (Class 1 Secondary) at 15% on your bonus above £9,100/year — this doesn't come out of your pay, but it matters if you're negotiating a salary sacrifice arrangement, as reducing your gross pay saves your employer NI too.
If you have a student loan, bonus payments will increase your repayment in that pay period. Repayments are deducted as a percentage of gross income above the repayment threshold:
| Plan | Annual threshold | Monthly threshold | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 (pre-2012) | £24,990 | £2,083 | 9% |
| Plan 2 (2012–2023) | £27,295 | £2,274 | 9% |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £31,395 | £2,616 | 9% |
| Plan 5 (2023+) | £25,000 | £2,083 | 9% |
| Postgraduate (PGL) | £21,000 | £1,750 | 6% |
On a £3,000 bonus with a Plan 2 loan, if you normally earn £30,000 (monthly threshold already exceeded), you'll pay an extra 9% × £3,000 = £270 in student loan repayments. Your loan balance reduces by that amount, which is a positive — but it does reduce your take-home in the bonus month.
Pension salary sacrifice is the single most effective way to reduce the tax you pay on a bonus. The mechanism is simple: instead of receiving the bonus as cash, you agree with your employer to have it paid directly into your pension as an employer contribution. Because the bonus never appears in your gross pay, there is no Income Tax or National Insurance on it.
| Tax rate | Tax saved per £1,000 bonus | NI saved (8%) | Total saved per £1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Rate (20%) | £200 | £80 | £280 |
| Higher Rate (40%) | £400 | £20 (above £50,270) | £420 |
| Additional Rate (45%) | £450 | £20 | £470 |
| £100k–£125k taper (60% effective) | £600 | £20 | £620 |
The pension Annual Allowance in 2026/27 is £60,000 (or 100% of your earnings if lower). This covers all contributions — yours, your employer's, and any sacrifice. If a large bonus sacrifice would take you over the Annual Allowance, HMRC will charge an Annual Allowance tax charge on the excess at your marginal rate — which negates the saving. Check your year-to-date pension contributions before agreeing to sacrifice a large bonus.
Commission payments are taxed identically to bonuses — they are employment income, processed via PAYE, and taxed at your marginal rate. The same rules apply:
Other variable pay — such as overtime, tips paid through payroll, or discretionary payments — also follows the same PAYE treatment. Tips paid in cash directly by customers are handled differently and may need to be declared separately.
Emma earns £40,000 and receives a £3,000 performance bonus. Her full income stays within the Basic Rate band (£40,000 + £3,000 = £43,000 — well below £50,270).
Bonus breakdown:
James earns £48,000. He has £2,270 of Basic Rate band remaining (£50,270 − £48,000 = £2,270). His £5,000 bonus straddles the Higher Rate boundary.
Bonus breakdown:
Rachel earns £95,000. A £10,000 cash bonus would take her to £105,000 — into the Personal Allowance taper zone (£100,000–£125,140). For every £2 over £100,000, she loses £1 of her £12,570 Personal Allowance, creating an effective 60% marginal rate on £5,000 of the bonus.
Cash bonus: estimated deductions ~£4,800 on the £5,000 above £100k threshold
Alternative — sacrifice £10,000 into pension:
No — bonuses are taxed using the same Income Tax and National Insurance rates as your regular salary. The reason a bonus can feel like it's taxed more heavily is that it temporarily pushes your annualised income into a higher band, which can trigger 40% tax on the portion above £50,270 rather than the 20% you're used to.
You can legitimately reduce the tax on a bonus by directing it into your pension via salary sacrifice before the bonus is paid. This keeps the gross amount outside of your taxable pay for that pay period, saving Income Tax at your marginal rate and National Insurance contributions as well.
Your employer's payroll calculates tax using your annualised pay for that period. A bonus paid in a single month inflates that month's annualised figure, which can push the calculation into the 40% Higher Rate band (above £50,270 in 2026/27). HMRC will reconcile your full-year liability at the end of the tax year, so any overpaid tax is refunded — but you see the impact on your payslip immediately.
Yes. Student loan repayments are calculated as a percentage of gross pay above the relevant threshold — for Plan 2 that is £27,295 per year (£2,274/month). A bonus increases your gross pay in that pay period, so you will pay 9% (Plan 2) on the bonus amount above the threshold in that month. This is correct and not clawed back later.
Yes. Commission and bonus payments are both treated as employment income and taxed identically via PAYE — Income Tax at your marginal rate and National Insurance Class 1 contributions. The same tax-saving strategies (e.g., pension salary sacrifice) apply to commission as to bonuses.