How Delaware withholds on a bonus
Delaware's withholding instructions give no flat supplemental rate. A bonus paid with regular wages is taxed together with them under the regular tables; a bonus paid separately is annualised and withheld under the same tables. Either way the state applies its brackets, 2.2% to 6.6% with 6.6% starting at $60,000 of taxable income, to the combined pay, which is the aggregate method. The calculator applies that for the state line under both federal methods.
For a $60,000 single filer paid every two weeks, a $10,000 bonus lands mostly in Delaware's 5.55% and 6.6% brackets, about $620 of state withholding, alongside $2,200 federal, $620 Social Security and $145 Medicare under the percentage method, leaving roughly $6,415. A bonus earned in Wilmington also carries the city's 1.25% wage tax ($125), which is not included here.
What the withholding means for your Delaware return
Delaware's brackets are not doubled for married couples, so a two-earner couple's bonus is often withheld at 6.6% under the joint schedule even when filing separately on a combined return would tax it lower; the state's own instructions point married couples to that option. The federal 22% is above a $60,000 filer's 12% to 22% marginal rate, so roughly $750 of federal withholding on a $10,000 bonus returns at filing. The Delaware paycheck calculator shows the marginal rates for any salary. Delaware's Form W-4DE allowances feed the combined-wage calculation, so an employee claiming several allowances sees somewhat less withheld from a bonus than one claiming none.