A common worry before an increment or a bonus is that it will push you into a higher bracket and leave you with less. Under the tax year 2027 salaried table, that cannot happen through the slabs themselves. Here is why, then four worked cases so you can see the extra tax on real numbers.
Why crossing a slab cannot cost you money
FBR words every slab as a fixed amount plus a rate on the amount over the slab floor; slab 4, for instance, is Rs 116,000 + 20% of the amount over Rs 2,200,000. The fixed amount is exactly the tax on all the slabs below. So when your income crosses Rs 2,200,000, the income you already had keeps its old tax, and only the rupees above the floor are taxed at 20%. Calculation Guide's calculator applies the table in the same way: each slab rate multiplies only the slice of income inside that slab.
If the whole increase stays in one slab, this is simply increase × that slab's rate. The highest rate is 35%, so extra tax is never more than 35% of the increase, and at least 65% of every extra rupee reaches you under this table.
Before the Finance Act 2026, there was one threshold that worked differently: the section 4AB surcharge, charged as a percentage of the whole tax once taxable income passed Rs 10 million. FBR Circular No. 2 of 2026-27 says the 9% surcharge on salaried individuals has been withdrawn, so for salary income in tax year 2027 the slabs are the only rate structure in play.
Two raises, worked through
| Case | Annual taxable salary | Annual tax | Extra tax | Monthly take-home after tax | Share of raise kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rs 200,000 → 220,000 a month | Rs 2,400,000 → 2,640,000 | Rs 156,000 → 204,000 | Rs 48,000 (20% of 240,000) | Rs 187,000 → 203,000 | Rs 16,000 of 20,000 (80%) |
| Rs 175,000 → 200,000 a month | Rs 2,100,000 → 2,400,000 | Rs 105,000 → 156,000 | Rs 51,000 (17% of 300,000) | Rs 166,250 → 187,000 | Rs 20,750 of 25,000 (83%) |
The first raise stays inside slab 4, so every added rupee is taxed at 20%. The second crosses Rs 2,200,000: the first Rs 100,000 of the raise is still in slab 3 at 11% (Rs 11,000) and the remaining Rs 200,000 is in slab 4 at 20% (Rs 40,000). Crossing the line blended the two rates; it did not reach back and retax the salary below it.
A bonus is salary, taxed through the same slabs
Section 12 of the Income Tax Ordinance lists bonus and commission inside the definition of salary. There is no separate bonus rate in the salaried table, so a bonus simply adds to the year's taxable salary.
| Annual salary + bonus | Tax without bonus | Tax with bonus | Tax on the bonus | Rate on the bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rs 1,800,000 + 300,000 | Rs 72,000 | Rs 105,000 | Rs 33,000 | 11% (all in slab 3) |
| Rs 2,000,000 + 500,000 | Rs 94,000 | Rs 176,000 | Rs 82,000 | 16.4% (200,000 at 11%, 300,000 at 20%) |
In the second case the person's marginal rate rises from 11% to 20%, yet the bonus as a whole is taxed at 16.4%, and the salary's effective rate moves only from 4.7% to 7.04%. Effective rate here is annual tax divided by annual taxable salary; the full slab table and five worked salaries are in FBR salary tax slabs for tax year 2027.
Pakistan Salary Tax CalculatorRun your salary with and without the raise or bonus, using annual taxable figures, and subtract the two tax results.What the next Rs 100,000 costs at each slab
The chart shows the extra annual tax on Rs 100,000 of added taxable salary when you start exactly at each slab floor. This is the marginal rate expressed in rupees.
The biggest jump is the first one: going from the 1% slab to the 11% slab multiplies the cost of extra income by eleven. For someone near Rs 1,200,000 a year, that is the number to keep in mind when weighing overtime or a side allowance that counts as salary. Rising from 11% to 20% is a 9 percentage point increase, which is different from a 9% increase; percent change vs percentage points sets the two side by side.
Why a bonus month can still look heavily taxed
Section 149 tells your employer to deduct tax at your average rate on your estimated salary for the year. When a bonus raises that estimate, the year's tax goes up, and the employer has to collect the increase from the months that remain. A bonus paid in, say, March can therefore make the March to June deductions look far higher than 20%. That is withholding timing, not a higher rate. Compare the year's total tax with the slab result, not one month's deduction with the bonus.
Where this reasoning stops
- It covers the salaried income tax table only. It does not model tax credits, exempt allowances, or provident fund, social security or other payroll deductions that can change with pay.
- It assumes the raise or bonus is fully taxable salary. A benefit with special treatment in the Ordinance, such as an exempt item, needs to be checked separately.
- It does not cover income other than salary. The 10% surcharge under section 4AB still applies to individuals other than salaried persons above Rs 10 million, so mixed-income cases need separate care.
- Employer schemes outside tax, such as a bonus that changes another benefit's eligibility, are outside the slab arithmetic.