Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
New Member
posted Jun 3, 2019 11:04:42 AM

My w2 included on line one my base pay and my commission. Should I have broken that out somehow on my return?

0 8 3301
1 Best answer
Expert Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:43 AM

No, you do not need to separate base pay and commissions as they both are taxed exactly the same as ordinary income. You just enter the amount in box 1 of your form W-2 in the corresponding box in TurboTax.

8 Replies
Expert Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:43 AM

No, you do not need to separate base pay and commissions as they both are taxed exactly the same as ordinary income. You just enter the amount in box 1 of your form W-2 in the corresponding box in TurboTax.

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:44 AM

My base pay gets taxed around 20% and my big bonus checks get like 40% taken out. That’s not the same math being deducted?

Expert Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:45 AM

What you see on your paychecks is withholding taxes. As your commissions are larger than your regular paychecks, they have a larger percentage of withholding according to the IRS withholding tables. But when you report them on your tax return, all income (base pay and commissions) is taxed at the same rate. The larger withholding on your commissions will give you a larger refund.

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:46 AM

It’s so weird I put that first w2 in with the base plus commission job and the return made sense. That was 9 months at 62,000 income with about 30,000 of that number commission and the return was about 3700. Then I added the second job I had last year that was a salary position that paid 20,000. So with both jobs I was at about 81500 total income. Both were W2 and then the refund dropped to 1500 dollars. I just don’t understand why it would drop so much from adding another job?

Expert Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:47 AM

PLease read this TurboTax FAQ: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3798403">https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3798403</a>

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:48 AM

Could I sent you a copy of the return and have you look at it for me and see if I should amend it? I should have had one of you looked at it before I sent it in! What a dumb dumb

Expert Alumni
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:50 AM

We are not allowed to look at your return.

New Member
Jun 3, 2019 11:04:53 AM

How come my base pay is taxed around 20% and my big commission checks are taxed at around 40%. Makes no sense