Commission Calculator
Commission Calculator
Work out the commission on a sale at a flat rate or with a split, on tiered plans paid band by band or on the whole amount, and total pay with a base salary. Or work backwards to the sales you need for a target, or the rate you were actually paid.
Commission against sales
Commission = sales × rate ÷ 100, and your share = commission × share ÷ 100. Tiered plans are paid either band by band, like tax brackets, or on all sales at the rate of the tier reached. Total pay = base pay + commission for the same period. Sales needed = commission wanted ÷ (rate ÷ 100). Amounts are before tax and work in any currency. The CSV, image and printed report contain the values you entered, nothing preloaded.
How to use this tool
Choose what to calculate. "Commission on a sale" takes the sales amount and the rate, with an optional share for when the commission is split with a broker or the house. "Tiered commission" takes up to three tiers and asks how the rates apply. "Salary plus commission" adds the commission to a base pay for a week, month, quarter or year. "Work backwards" finds the sales you need for a target, or the rate you were paid from the commission on your statement.
The input people most often get wrong is the rate. Type 5 for 5%, not 0.05, which the calculator reads as five hundredths of a percent. The second is the tier setting: check whether your plan pays each band of sales at its own rate or moves every dollar to the higher rate once you pass a threshold, because the difference can be a third of your pay.
What the calculation is doing
A flat commission is the sale multiplied by the rate: 5% of $30,000 is $1,500, which is $50 for every $1,000 sold. A split applies a second percentage to that result, so your effective rate is the product of the two. On a salary plus commission plan the commission is added to the base for the same period, and the yearly figure multiplies that total by the number of periods.
Tiered plans need more care. Paid band by band, each slice of sales earns the rate for its own band, the way income tax brackets work, so passing a threshold only raises the rate on the dollars above it. Paid on all sales at the tier reached, sometimes called a retroactive plan, the rate of the highest tier passed applies to every dollar, including the ones already sold. Working backwards is the same formula turned round: sales needed = commission ÷ rate, and rate = commission ÷ sales.
Band by band or all at the tier reached, and why it matters
Take tiers of 5% up to $10,000, 7% up to $25,000 and 10% above, and $30,000 of sales. Band by band, the first $10,000 earns $500, the next $15,000 earns $1,050 and the last $5,000 earns $500, a total of $2,050 and an effective rate of 6.83%. Paid on all sales at the tier reached, the whole $30,000 earns 10%, or $3,000. Same tiers, same sales, and 46% more pay.
The retroactive version also has cliffs. At $25,000 of sales it pays $1,750, but at $25,001 it pays $2,500.10, so the last dollar of sales is worth $750. That gives salespeople a strong reason to push a deal into this month or hold it back for the next, depending on where the threshold sits. Band by band plans have no cliffs: the pay line only bends at a threshold, it never jumps. Companies choose one or the other for exactly that reason, so the wording in the plan matters more than the rates themselves.
Splits work differently again. A listing agreement might set a commission that is shared between the two brokerages in a sale, and each agent then splits their side with their own broker. In the example in the diagram the agent on a 3% side and a 70% split keeps $8,400 from a $400,000 sale, 2.1% of the price. Rates and splits are negotiated, so enter the ones in your own agreement rather than a typical figure.
Commission on common sales amounts
The commission at each rate, before any split or tax.
| Sales | 2% | 3% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $20 | $30 | $50 | $100 | $150 | $200 |
| $5,000 | $100 | $150 | $250 | $500 | $750 | $1,000 |
| $10,000 | $200 | $300 | $500 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,000 |
| $25,000 | $500 | $750 | $1,250 | $2,500 | $3,750 | $5,000 |
| $50,000 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| $100,000 | $2,000 | $3,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| $250,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 | $12,500 | $25,000 | $37,500 | $50,000 |
| $500,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $25,000 | $50,000 | $75,000 | $100,000 |
A worked example you can check on paper
Tiered plan, $30,000 of sales, tiers of 5% to $10,000, 7% to $25,000 and 10% above. Band by band: 10,000 × 0.05 = $500; (25,000 − 10,000) × 0.07 = $1,050; (30,000 − 25,000) × 0.10 = $500. Total $2,050, and 2,050 ÷ 30,000 = 6.83% effective. All at the tier reached: 30,000 × 0.10 = $3,000.
Salary plus commission: $3,000 a month base and 5% of $50,000 of sales. Commission = 50,000 × 0.05 = $2,500, total pay = $3,000 + $2,500 = $5,500 a month, of which 2,500 ÷ 5,500 = 45.5% is commission. Over a year that is 5,500 × 12 = $66,000. Working backwards: to earn $2,500 at 5% you need 2,500 ÷ 0.05 = $50,000 of sales, which closes the loop.
Mistakes that catch people out
Typing the rate as a decimal. 0.05 in the rate box means 0.05%, a hundredth of the intended pay. Enter 5 for 5%.
Assuming how tiers are paid. "7% above $10,000" is ambiguous. Band by band and all at the tier reached can differ by a third or more at the same sales.
Forgetting the split. A 3% commission on a house is not 3% to the agent. After the split with the broker it may be 2% or less of the price.
Paying on the wrong base. Some plans pay on revenue, others on gross profit or only on payments collected. 10% of profit on a sale with a 25% margin is 2.5% of the price.
Treating a draw as extra pay. A draw against commission is an advance that is paid back out of later commission. It smooths income but does not add to it.
Popular calculations
Each opens the calculator with those figures filled in, and they can be changed once it is open.
Commission on a sale
Tiered commission
Salary plus commission
Sales needed for a target
Rate from the commission paid
How this was checked
The band by band calculation was compared with a separate bracket by bracket sum at 400 sales levels from $0 to $60,000 and matched exactly, and the jumps in the all at the tier reached method were checked at each threshold. The reverse calculations were tested by round trip on 2,000 random sales amounts and rates: the sales needed for a commission, and the rate from a commission, both returned the starting figures. The worked examples above were also done by hand.
The tax and overtime points were checked against IRS Publication 15 for 2026, which keeps the 22% and 37% supplemental withholding rates, and the Department of Labor Fact Sheet #20 on the Section 7(i) exemption. Every address in the lists above was then opened and checked for a distinct title, the right answer, a chart that renders, and clean CSV, image and print output containing only the values entered, at desktop, tablet and phone widths.
Common questions
How do you calculate commission?
Multiply the sales by the rate written as a decimal. For 5% of $30,000, that is 30,000 × 0.05 = $1,500. If you only keep part of the commission, multiply again by your share: 70% of $1,500 is $1,050.
What is a tiered commission?
A plan where the rate rises as sales pass set thresholds, such as 5% up to $10,000, 7% up to $25,000 and 10% above. Paid band by band, like tax brackets, $30,000 of sales earns $500 + $1,050 + $500 = $2,050. Paid on all sales at the tier reached, the same $30,000 earns 10% of everything, $3,000. The plan document should say which one it means.
How is commission taxed?
In the US commission counts as supplemental wages. When it is paid separately from regular wages, employers may withhold federal income tax at a flat 22%, or 37% on supplemental wages above $1 million in the calendar year, according to IRS Publication 15 for 2026. Social Security, Medicare and any state tax come on top. The withholding is not the final bill: what you owe is settled on your tax return.
How much do I need to sell to earn a set amount?
Divide the commission you want by the rate as a decimal. To earn $2,500 at 5%, you need 2,500 ÷ 0.05 = $50,000 of sales. If you keep only part of the commission, divide by your share as well.
What is a commission split?
An agreement to share one commission. In real estate, a 3% side of a $400,000 sale is $12,000, and an agent on a 70% split with the broker keeps $8,400, which is 2.1% of the sale price. Enter the rate and your share, and the calculator works out both.
Do commissioned employees get overtime?
In the US, usually yes, unless an exemption applies. For retail and service establishments, Section 7(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act exempts commissioned staff from overtime only if the regular rate of pay is more than one and a half times the minimum wage and more than half of total earnings over a representative period of one month to one year come from commissions. Otherwise hours over 40 in a week are paid at time and a half.
Related Calculators and Reference
- Percentage Calculator: percent of a number, change and difference for any other rate question.
- Hourly to Salary Calculator: compare a commission package with an hourly or salaried offer.
- Markup and Margin Calculator: the gross profit that some commission plans are paid on.
- Break Even Calculator: the sales a business needs once commission is counted as a variable cost.
- Mortgage Calculator: the other side of a house sale, the monthly payment on the price.
- US Department of Labor Fact Sheet #20: overtime rules for employees paid commission by retail and service establishments.