Gross up calculator: convert a net amount into the gross payment needed so taxes leave the recipient with the exact net figure. Editable tax rates, free.
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The $6,944.44 gross-up
What this means for your numbers: The gross-up wedge grows with the tax rate: at 28% the multiplier is 1.389, at 35% it is 1.538. Higher earners' net promises cost disproportionately more to honor.
Illustrative breakdown using the worked example above. The calculator computes your own numbers with the same formula.
The division behind the gross-up
The formula is gross = net / (1 - rate/100). It inverts the withholding: since net equals gross times (1 - rate), dividing net by that factor recovers the gross. It is not gross times (1 + rate), which is the most common mistake. Adding the rate back understates gross because the tax applies to the larger gross figure, not to net.
Worked example: an employee must clear $3,000 net after 25% withholding. Gross = 3000 / (1 - 0.25) = 3000 / 0.75 = $4,000.00. Withholding is 4000 x 0.25 = $1,000.00, and 4000 - 1000 = $3,000.00 net. Check it in reverse: 3000 x 1.25 would give $3,750, which leaves only $937.50 withheld and a $62.50 shortfall against the target.
Rates are continuous, so the output rounds to cents. At 32% the same $3,000 target needs 3000 / 0.68 = $4,411.7647..., displayed as $4,411.76 with $1,411.76 in withholdings. That rounded gross actually nets $3,000.0006, a sixth of a cent over target, which is harmless for planning but worth knowing if you feed the figure into payroll software that reconciles to the cent.
Where a single flat rate breaks down
The calculator treats the rate as a single effective percentage applied to the whole amount. Real payroll rarely works that way. If the first $10,000 is untaxed and everything above is taxed at 22%, a $6,000 gross-up carries no tax at all, yet entering 22% here would demand gross of 6000 / 0.78 = $7,692.31, overstating the need by $1,692.31.
Progressive brackets invert the same way. Grossing up a $5,000 bonus into a 24% bracket where lower income already fills the 12% bracket means only part of the bonus is taxed at 24%. The true gross is lower than the flat-rate answer; a blended effective rate is the honest input, not the marginal one.
Two further limits: the rate must be under 100 (at exactly 100 nothing is left for net, so division is undefined), and the calculation ignores employer-side costs. A bonus grossed to $4,000 also triggers the employer's 7.65% FICA share, $306.00 on top, plus any state unemployment insurance, so the all-in cash cost exceeds the gross figure shown.
