Bonus Tax

Next year I will be starting my first job out of college as an IB Analyst, and I have recently realized that IB bonuses are not taxed at the normal withholding rate for supplemental wages of 22%. Most of the information I have found on this topic says that bonuses tend to get taxed at about 50%. 

Im hoping someone can expand a little bit on this for me. If bonuses get taxed at 50% how much of that can you get back on tax returns as a 1st year analyst? I know that depends on several factors, so I am hoping someone can elaborate. 

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I believe someone else explained this better but it was along the lines of this.

If you get a 50k bonus it looks like (to the government) you’re receiving a 50k paycheck, so they think you’re getting 50k per paycheck which annualizes to >$1m in income putting you at the highest state and federal tax bracket for your bonus, which amounts to approx 49-50%?

I believe this is how it works, but again I’m repeating what someone else said so more input would be great

 

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