Overtime Calculator

How Overtime Pay Is Calculated

Overtime pay is the regular rate multiplied by the applicable overtime multiplier and the qualifying overtime hours. Add regular earnings to find gross pay. This calculator starts with a simple hourly arrangement: one wage, no additional includable compensation, and a federal weekly overtime threshold. It does not determine whether a worker is legally covered or exempt.

Regular hours are the entered hours paid at the ordinary rate. Overtime hours are paid at the selected premium rate. Quick Hours lets you enter hours already classified on your records; Time Card calculates the federal weekly split from shifts. Both display earnings before withholding, benefit contributions or other payroll deductions.

Federal 40-Hour Rule

For most covered, nonexempt employees, the FLSA requires at least time-and-a-half after 40 hours worked in a workweek. A workweek is a recurring 168-hour period established by the employer, and it can start on any day and at any time. It is not necessarily the calendar week or the payroll period. [DOL Fact Sheet 23]

Calculate each workweek independently. A 35-hour week followed by a 45-hour week is not simply an 80-hour block without overtime: under the ordinary rule, the second week has five overtime hours. Paid leave usually is not time actually worked. Weekend or holiday work alone does not trigger the federal premium, although a contract or state rule can create additional rights.

What Time-and-a-Half Means

Time-and-a-half means 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. At $20 per hour, the overtime wage is $30 for each qualifying hour: $20 of straight-time pay and $10 of extra premium. A double-time rate is 2 times the regular rate. Selecting double time here illustrates that pay arrangement; it does not establish a legal entitlement to double time.

What the Regular Rate Means

The FLSA regular rate can include more than the stated base wage. In general, includable compensation for a workweek divided by the actual hours worked determines the regular rate, subject to statutory exclusions. Nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions and multiple wage rates can require additional calculations. An employer cannot avoid those rules merely by naming a lower base rate. [DOL Fact Sheet 56A]

This version assumes the entered hourly wage is the correct regular rate. It does not implement weighted multiple rates, commission allocation, fluctuating-workweek arrangements or industry exceptions. Check payroll records or a qualified adviser when those arrangements apply. A custom multiplier changes the earnings illustration, not the legal definition of regular rate.

Overtime Pay Example

At $25 per hour for 48 hours in one ordinary federal workweek, 40 hours are regular and eight are overtime. The regular earnings are $1,000. Multiplying $25 by 1.5 produces a $37.50 overtime rate; eight hours at that rate produce $300. Total gross earnings are $1,300.

The effective rate spreads all gross earnings over all hours worked. It helps compare work schedules but is not the rate used to calculate the original overtime entitlement. The $100 potential qualified premium is a separate federal deduction concept, subject to eligibility and annual limits.

How to Calculate Overtime From a Time Card

Subtract each shift's start time from its end time, then subtract unpaid breaks. Add paid minutes within each employer-defined workweek. Under the ordinary federal rule, the first 2,400 paid minutes are regular time and minutes above that threshold are overtime. This tool retains integer minutes through classification.

For example, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM is 570 elapsed minutes. A 30-minute unpaid break leaves 540 minutes, or nine worked hours. Add every shift for the week before deciding how many hours receive the weekly overtime premium. Do not subtract paid rest breaks as though they were unpaid meal periods.

An end time earlier than the start time is treated as the following day. Enter the actual break start when a shift contains an unpaid break so its minutes can be assigned correctly if the shift crosses a workweek boundary. The tool rejects overlapping shifts and breaks outside their shifts. A shift crossing the final boundary appears in two separate workweek totals; the partial week still needs its other work hours before it can establish a reliable total.

Clock entries are local wall-clock times without timezone or daylight-saving adjustments. If a clock change occurred during a shift, use the actual elapsed hours in Quick Hours. The calculator does not replace your employer's timekeeping records or decide whether particular waiting, travel or on-call time counts as work.

Overtime and Taxes

Is Overtime Taxed More?

Overtime does not have a separate federal income-tax rate simply because the pay is overtime. A larger paycheck can cause higher withholding, especially when payroll calculations project that paycheck across a full year. Withholding is a prepayment; the final tax liability depends on the annual return. Payroll methods and Form W-4 elections also matter. [IRS Publication 15-T]

Gross overtime earnings therefore do not equal the increase in your bank deposit. After calculating hours here, continue to the Hourly Paycheck Calculator for a separate take-home estimate. Its tax assumptions and limitations still apply. Use the Income Tax Calculator for the broader annual liability context.

What “No Tax on Overtime” Means in 2026

The phrase describes a federal income-tax deduction for certain qualified overtime compensation for tax years 2025 through 2028. It does not exclude all overtime wages from income. Current limits generally allow up to $12,500 per return, or $25,000 on a joint return, before income-based reductions. Married taxpayers must file jointly, and claimants must meet the applicable Social Security number requirements. [IRS qualified overtime guidance]

Important: “No Tax on Overtime” does not mean your entire overtime paycheck is exempt from federal taxes.

Which Part of Overtime Can Qualify?

For ordinary FLSA time-and-a-half, the qualifying amount is generally the extra half-rate premium. Ten qualifying hours at a $20 regular rate produce $300 of overtime wages, but only $100 of potential qualified compensation. A voluntary 2× payment does not automatically double that qualified amount: the ordinary FLSA-required premium in this example remains $100.

Hours paid at a premium solely under a state rule, employer policy or collective agreement do not automatically qualify. The ordinary weekly estimator limits potential qualified hours to hours actually above 40. Alternative FLSA methods, federal employee rules and compensatory-time arrangements need their own analysis. The annual panel also requires an eligibility confirmation; it does not infer exempt status from a job title.

For 2026, employers report qualified overtime in Form W-2 box 12 using code TT. The TT total is not necessarily the allowable deduction. Current IRS guidance says employee compensation considered for the deduction cannot exceed properly reported TT amounts; an overstated amount does not authorize deducting compensation never actually received. Ask the employer about corrections when reporting is wrong. [2026 W-2 instructions]

The annual panel treats a reported TT total as a replacement for a projected amount, never an addition. If an actual qualified-pay total is also entered and is lower, it uses the lower amount. Without TT, the result is a planning estimate. It does not automatically annualize this workweek or combine it with the amount you entered.

The income reduction begins above $150,000 MAGI, or $300,000 jointly. The available 2026 Schedule 1-A draft reduces the capped amount by $100 for each complete $1,000 above that threshold, rounding the number of blocks down. At $151,500 single MAGI, that is one block and a $100 reduction. MAGI includes the required foreign and territory income add-backs, not just wages. The 2026 form remains draft, not for filing; use final instructions when preparing a return. [2026 Schedule 1-A draft, Part III]

Social Security and Medicare

Overtime wages generally remain subject to Social Security, Medicare and applicable withholding. The deduction reduces federal taxable income; it is not a payroll-tax exemption, a promised refund, or a credit equal to the deduction. The dollar tax benefit depends on the rest of the return. [IRS Publication 15]

Federal vs. State Overtime Rules

Why State Rules Can Differ

States can provide protections beyond the federal weekly rule. Daily thresholds, double time and other conditions may change what an employer must pay. This release uses only the federal/default calculation. Choosing a state prepares the paycheck handoff; it does not activate a state labor-rule engine. State income-tax support elsewhere on PayNumera is a separate capability.

California Example

California's general rules include time-and-a-half after eight hours up to 12 in a workday, with double time after 12, plus rules for the seventh consecutive day in a workweek. Exemptions and alternative arrangements matter. These are an example of why state review is necessary, not rules implemented by this calculator. [California DIR overtime FAQ]

How to Use the PayNumera Overtime Calculator

Quick Hours Mode

Enter your hourly rate, regular hours and overtime hours for one workweek. Choose 1.5×, 2× or a custom multiplier. Use actual hours rather than converting 30 minutes to 0.30 hours: 30 minutes is 0.5 hours. Review the assumptions, then use Calculate to focus the results. Invalid entries hide results until corrected.

Time Card Mode

Enter shifts on their start days and add another shift for a split day. Remove unused example shifts. Advanced options let you set the employer's workweek start day and time. Review the separate week totals when a shift crosses a boundary. No daily state overtime is inferred.

Scenario Compare

Try two, five or ten more overtime hours. Compare current gross earnings with the proposed gross and the difference. The after-tax action transfers both scenarios to Hourly Paycheck so the same tax assumptions can be applied to each. A scenario cannot exceed the 168 hours available in a workweek.

For employers, Payroll Calculator estimates additional employer costs. Handoffs use short-lived storage in the same browser tab rather than wages in a URL. Only the selected earnings context is transferred; annual MAGI, deduction entries and Social Security numbers are not sent. Annualized handoffs assume the workweek repeats 52 times, so adjust for a variable schedule.

Why Your Paystub May Differ

A paystub may use a different fixed workweek, state requirements, exemption classification, industry rule, bonus allocation, commission or multiple wage rates. Payroll rounding, collective agreements, paid leave and employer premiums can also change the breakdown. Take-home amounts additionally reflect taxes, benefits and deductions.

Compare like with like: the same hours, the same workweek and gross earnings before deductions. Use payroll records to investigate differences. PayNumera provides a transparent estimate, not an official wage statement or a substitute for professional tax or legal advice. The Paycheck Calculator and Hourly to Salary Calculator help with related pay questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Methodology and Official Sources

PayNumera · 2026 labor/tax rules · Last source verification: September 13, 2026. Engine version: 2026-09-13.1.

Rates are stored in integer cents and multipliers in hundredths. Quick Hours accepts hundredths of an hour; Time Card uses integer minutes. Regular and overtime lines are each rounded half-up to cents after multiplication, and gross is their sum. The display rounds an overtime rate to cents, but the engine retains its unrounded rational value when calculating earnings. Effective hourly earnings are gross divided by hours. Separate workweeks are never averaged for overtime classification.

Qualified compensation uses the ordinary FLSA half-rate premium only; annual limits and whole-$1,000 MAGI steps are applied separately. The 2026 planning formula follows the current draft Schedule 1-A, consistent with the final 2025 phaseout, and requires final-form review before filing. Site-wide methodology and limitations also apply to linked calculators.

Labor and tax data sources

• U.S. DOL Fact Sheet 23 — weekly overtime
• U.S. DOL Fact Sheet 56A — regular rate
• IRS FS-2026-13 — August 2026 qualified overtime guidance
• IRS 2026 Schedule 1-A draft — not for filing
• IRS current final Schedule 1-A (2025 when verified)
• IRS 2026 W-2 and W-3 instructions — code TT
• IRS Publication 15 (2026) and Publication 15-T (2026)
• California DIR — example only, not an enabled state module

Report an error or request a correction using PayNumera's existing contact address. Include the rule or example and a source link. Do not send Social Security numbers, a full paystub or personal tax records.

Financial disclaimer · Privacy policy · Tax data and sources