Gross pay
The sum of all money paid to an employee that will be considered taxable wages is considered to be the employee's Gross Pay. Most employees in the United States are paid in one of two methods. Either as a rate multiplied by a unit. Typical units or measures for such a calculation include time (e.g. hours or days) and pieces (e.g. sold or assembled).
An example Gross Pay might also include a bonus that an employee receives for good performance on his or her job, commission earnings that the employee might be awarded as part of a sales effort, or even the value of some benefit that has been already awarded to the employee but needs to be taxed as a part of payroll.
Example
In this example below, the employee in question is subject to all taxes for the earnings in question.
| Rate per hour | Hours worked |
| 5.15 | 35 |
| 8.50 | 5 |
| Bonus: 500.00 | 0 hours |
Total Gross Pay: 180.25 + 42.50 + 500.00 = 722.75
