How New Jersey withholds on a bonus
New Jersey publishes no supplemental rate. Its withholding instructions direct that supplemental wages be added to regular wages and withheld on the combined amount under the rate table the employee selected on Form NJ-W4 (tables A through E), which is the aggregate method for state purposes. The calculator applies New Jersey's graduated brackets to the combined paycheck and subtracts the regular withholding.
For a $60,000 single filer paid every two weeks, a $10,000 bonus is withheld at New Jersey's 5.53% and 6.37% rates on most of it, about $600 of state withholding, alongside $2,200 federal, $620 Social Security and $145 Medicare under the percentage method, leaving roughly $6,435. New Jersey's employee contributions to unemployment, disability and family leave insurance also come out of a bonus up to their annual caps and are not included. There are no local income taxes.
What the withholding means for your New Jersey return
Because New Jersey withholds under its actual brackets, the state line on a bonus is close to the tax owed. The federal 22% is above a $60,000 filer's 12% to 22% marginal rate, so roughly $750 of the federal withholding on a $10,000 bonus returns at filing. A New Jersey resident who earns a bonus for work in New York has New York's 11.7% supplemental rate withheld instead and credits it at home; a Pennsylvania commuter is withheld for New Jersey only, under the reciprocal agreement. The New Jersey paycheck calculator shows the marginal rates for any salary.