For salaried workers who still earn overtime, this walkthrough keeps things simple and accurate.
Wrap‑up
Check your per‑period salary, add any OT/DT hours, and use the sliders to dial in withholding. Small % changes can align the net perfectly.
A salary workflow that actually reflects your paycheck
Many salaried roles are overtime‑eligible, but the paperwork makes this feel murky. The clean approach is to model your salary at the pay‑period level, then layer in any overtime using the same 1.5× and 2.0× bins you’d use if you were hourly.
Start with the portion of your annual salary that lands in a single check. For a $62,400 salary paid biweekly, that’s $62,400 ÷ 26 ≈ $2,400 per check. Enter that as your base earnings, then record overtime hours and multipliers separately so you can see the incremental effect clearly.
This two‑layer method is easier to audit later. If your OT eligibility changes or your base salary increases mid‑year, you can adjust one layer without unraveling everything.
Setting withholding so the net looks right
Even for salaried workers, the fastest way to align the net is still to compute your Fed % and State % from a recent check. Because salary withholding tables assume consistency, small errors in the percentage inputs can move the net by more than you expect. Nudge slowly in half‑percent steps.
If your benefits are mostly pre‑tax, your taxable wages will be lower than the gross salary line. Model that by lowering the percentages slightly, or subtract those amounts when you sanity‑check. If benefits are post‑tax, keep the percentages as they are and compare after‑tax lines.
Quarter‑end bonuses deserve special attention. They’re often withheld using supplemental methods, which can make a single check look out of character. Don’t bake those weeks into your normal percentages.
How to handle fluctuating schedules
Salaried doesn’t always mean predictable. If your job swings between calm and crunch, keep a simple notes log: date, overtime hours by multiplier, any unusual deductions. When you sit down to forecast next check’s net, the log makes data entry trivial.
Consider running two saved scenarios—one for calm weeks, one for crunch weeks. The point isn’t to forecast the year down to the penny; it’s to get reliable intuition about what an extra late shift will actually put in your pocket.
If your role has comp time instead of paid overtime, treat those hours as zero in the OT boxes and track the comp in your own sheet so that your paycheck model stays honest.
A realistic example to copy
Assume $2,400 salary per check, plus 4 hours at 1.5× and 1 hour at 2.0×, based on your hourly equivalent. If your hourly equivalent is $30, then OT adds (4 × $30 × 1.5) + (1 × $30 × 2.0) = $180 + $60 = $240. Estimated gross: $2,640.
Using Fed % 14% and State % 5% from your last check, the net difference between a normal week ($2,400) and a busy week ($2,640) is more informative than the absolute net. That differential is what helps you decide whether the extra time is worth it.
Keep those differentials somewhere visible. Over a month, you’ll see which weeks pulled the most weight and whether your energy tax was worth the money.
Edge cases you should plan for
Changing pay frequency (e.g., moving from biweekly to twice‑monthly) can make your per‑check results look off, even though your annual salary is unchanged. Match the calculator’s frequency to your current arrangement before comparing net.
Mid‑year raises can confuse things. Split the year into before and after. Model each period with its own salary‑per‑check and keep the OT layer consistent across both chunks.
If you travel or receive stipends, keep those lines separate from your salary and OT. Mixing reimbursements with wages will make your comparisons noisy.
Checklist for fast, repeatable estimates
Enter salary per check first, then add OT based on your hourly equivalent.
Use percentages from a recent normal check; ignore bonus weeks when you set the baseline.
Save two scenarios—calm and crunch—so you can forecast in seconds instead of starting from scratch.