Commission Pay Calculator
The plan, the quota and the draw
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Planning indicator only. It does not assess every part of a household's finances or replace individualized professional advice.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the sales you closed this period and your straight commission rate — the flat percentage paid on everything, with no quota involved.
- 02
Enter the quota for the period, then the two tiered rates: what the plan pays up to quota, and the accelerator rate above it. The page prices the tiered plan against the flat one on the same sales number and reports where the accelerator finally overtakes it.
- 03
Enter the draw paid to you this period and any unrecovered draw carried in from last period, then your base salary — zero on a commission-only plan.
- 04
Open Advanced for chargebacks on deals that cancelled or refunded, the share of these deals split away to a partner or the house, and how many commission periods your year has (12 monthly, 4 quarterly).
- 05
Read the two draw lines side by side. The RECOVERABLE figure is what a draw that is an advance releases; the NON-recoverable figure is what a draw that is a floor pays. The gap between them, and the carried balance underneath, is the whole difference between a loan and a guarantee.
Formula
Credited sales = sales closed × (1 − split share). Straight plan = credited sales × straight rate − chargebacks, floored at zero. Tiered plan = min(credited, quota) × the up-to-quota rate + max(0, credited − quota) × the accelerator rate − chargebacks, floored at zero. Break-even sales, where the accelerator finally overtakes the flat rate = quota × (accelerator rate − up-to-quota rate) ÷ (accelerator rate − straight rate). Defined only where the accelerator exceeds the flat rate; otherwise the tiered plan never catches up at any volume. RECOVERABLE draw: cash = draw + max(0, commission − (draw + prior balance)); carried forward = max(0, draw + prior balance − commission). NON-RECOVERABLE draw: cash = the greater of the draw and the commission. What reaches you = base pay + the recoverable-draw cash. Flat withholding = commission × the supplemental rate.
Example
$180,000 closed against a $150,000 quota, no split and no chargebacks. The straight plan at 5% pays $9,000. The tiered plan pays 3% on the first $150,000 ($4,500) plus 8% on the $30,000 above quota ($2,400), which is $6,900 — so at 120% of quota the accelerator is $2,100 BEHIND the flat rate, and it does not overtake it until $250,000 of sales, or 167% of quota. A $3,000 draw with $1,500 carried in from last period means $4,500 has to be cleared before commission is real: the recoverable treatment releases $3,000 of draw plus the $4,500 above it, so $7,500 this period and nothing carried forward. A non-recoverable draw on the same numbers pays $9,000, and the $1,500 difference is exactly last period's advance being taken back. With $3,000 of base salary, $10,500 reaches you before withholding; the flat 22% holds $1,980 out of the commission, leaving $7,020 of it. Twelve periods like this annualises to $126,000, which is a ceiling rather than a forecast.
Definitions
- Recoverable draw
- An advance against commission not yet earned. A shortfall becomes a balance carried into the next period and must be earned back before any commission reaches you. Economically a loan.
- Non-recoverable draw
- A guaranteed floor. Earn less than the draw and you keep the difference, with nothing carried forward. Economically a minimum wage for the period.
- Quota attainment
- Credited sales as a percentage of quota. The number a tiered plan is designed around, and the one that decides whether an accelerator has paid for its lower base rate.
- Accelerator
- A higher commission rate applying only to sales above quota. Always bought with a lower rate below quota, so it costs money at every volume below the break-even point.
- Chargeback
- Commission reclaimed on a deal that cancelled, refunded or was never paid for. Limited by minimum-wage rules for nonexempt employees and by state wage-deduction law.
- Supplemental wages
- Commissions, bonuses and similar payments made separately or identified separately from regular pay. Withheld at a flat 22% federally, and mandatorily at 37% above $1,000,000 in a year.
Good to know
One sales number, three plans, three answers
Which commission plan you are on was decided for you, which is why this page prices all three on the same number rather than asking you to pick one. The three shapes cover almost every real plan. A STRAIGHT plan pays a single percentage on everything closed: simple, predictable, and the benchmark the other two should be measured against. A TIERED plan pays one rate up to quota and a higher accelerator rate above it. A DRAW arrangement sits on top of either, paying you a fixed amount each period so a commission-only job still produces a regular paycheck. The interesting comparison is the first two, because a tiered plan is not a straight plan with a bonus attached — the accelerator is bought with a lower base rate, and that purchase is paid for at every volume below the crossover. On the default numbers the effect is stark. A flat 5% on $180,000 pays $9,000. A tiered plan of 3% up to a $150,000 quota plus 8% above it pays $4,500 + $2,400 = $6,900. At 120% of quota — a good period by any measure — the accelerator is $2,100 BEHIND the flat rate. It does not overtake it until $250,000 of sales, which is 167% of quota. The break-even is worth computing before signing anything: quota × (accelerator − base rate) ÷ (accelerator − the flat rate you could have had), which is where the page's break-even stat comes from. What that number tells you is the plan's design intent. A plan whose crossover sits at 167% of quota is a bet by the company that most of its reps will miss, and a bet by you that you will be one of the few who clears it comfortably. Whether that is a good deal depends entirely on the distribution of attainment in the team you are joining, which is a question worth asking in an interview and one that recruiters rarely volunteer.
The draw is either a floor or a loan, and the payslip cannot tell you which
This is the single most consequential distinction in commission pay, and both versions produce an identical-looking deposit. A NON-RECOVERABLE draw is a guaranteed floor. Earn less than it and you keep the difference; nothing is carried forward, and the draw functions as a minimum wage for the period. A RECOVERABLE draw is an ADVANCE against commission you have not earned yet. Earn less than it and the shortfall becomes a balance that follows you into the next period, and next period's commission has to clear it before a single dollar reaches you. That is why a rep can have a strong quarter and see a zero-commission payslip: the good quarter is paying for the bad one, three months late, and nothing on the stub explains it. The default period here shows the mechanism working normally. A $3,000 draw with $1,500 carried in means $4,500 must be cleared. Commission of $9,000 clears it comfortably, so the recoverable treatment releases the $3,000 draw plus the $4,500 above the total advanced — $7,500 this period, with nothing carried forward. The non-recoverable treatment on the same numbers pays the full $9,000, and the $1,500 difference is precisely last period's advance being taken back. In a period where commission comes in below the advanced total, the divergence is much larger and the carried balance stat is the number to watch. Two things to check in the plan document, in this order. First, the word 'recoverable', or any language about a draw balance, a deficit, or amounts carried forward — any of these means the draw is a loan. Second, and separately, what happens to an outstanding balance if you leave. Some agreements try to convert it into a personal debt on the way out; several states do not permit an employer to recover a draw from a final paycheck, and the enforceability of a promissory note signed for it varies widely. A draw arrangement with no cap on the carried balance and a clawback on termination is a genuinely risky compensation structure, whatever the headline rate looks like.
Chargebacks, splits, and the limits on taking money back
Commission is unusual among forms of pay in that money already paid can be reclaimed, and most plans reserve that right in broad terms. A chargeback claws back commission on a deal that cancelled, refunded, or was never paid for, and it is usually contractually permitted. What it cannot be is unlimited. For a nonexempt employee, a deduction from wages may not take that employee below the minimum wage for the workweek — a rule that binds regardless of what the plan says. Several states require written authorisation for any deduction from wages at all, and a handful bar recovering a chargeback from a final paycheck outright. Beyond the legal ceiling there is a commercial question worth naming clearly: a plan that claws back on a CUSTOMER'S non-payment has moved the credit risk of that customer onto you. You did not choose the customer's payment terms, you cannot enforce them, and you are now carrying them. That is a substantive contract term to negotiate rather than an administrative footnote, and the usual negotiated compromise is a time limit — a chargeback window of ninety or a hundred and eighty days, after which the commission is final. Deal splits are the quieter version of the same issue. The split field on this page reduces credited sales before any rate is applied, which is how most plans work, and a 20% split therefore costs 20% of the commission and not 20% of the margin. Where splits are assigned after the fact by a manager rather than agreed in advance, they are effectively a discretionary reduction in pay, and a plan that permits them without a stated rule is worth a written question before it becomes a dispute.
Withholding, the regular rate, and the sentence that says when a commission is earned
Three things happen to a commission after it is calculated, and each of them costs or gains real money. The first is withholding. A commission paid separately or identified separately from regular pay is a supplemental wage, withheld at a flat 22% federally — $1,980 on the default $9,000. That is a payroll convention, not your tax rate: a large commission stacked on a modest salary is over-withheld and comes back as a refund, while the same commission on a high salary is under-withheld and turns up as an April bill. Above $1,000,000 of supplemental wages in a calendar year the 37% rate on the excess is mandatory and the employer has no discretion at all. Social Security and Medicare come out on top of any of it. The second is the FLSA regular rate, which almost nobody applies. If you are NONEXEMPT and you worked overtime, a commission is includable compensation and enters the regular rate for the workweeks it was earned in — and where a commission covers a period longer than a week, the employer must apportion it back across those weeks and pay additional overtime on each. A monthly commission can therefore generate four or five small overtime corrections, and they are routinely missed because the commission is computed by one system and the overtime by another. The third is the definition of 'earned', and it is the most expensive sentence in any commission plan. Booked, shipped, invoiced and collected are four different dates that can sit quarters apart, and plans commonly add a further condition that you be employed on the payment date — which converts a resignation two weeks early into a forfeiture of a quarter's work. In a number of states a commission that is already earned is wages and cannot be forfeited by a policy saying otherwise, but the definition of earned in the plan is what the analysis starts from. Read that clause before you sign, and read it again before you resign.
Frequently asked questions
What is a draw against commission?
Money paid to you before the commission is settled, so that a commission-only job still produces a regular paycheck. The crucial question is what happens when the commission comes in below the draw. A NON-recoverable draw is a floor: you keep the difference. A RECOVERABLE draw is an advance: the shortfall becomes a balance carried into the next period, which next period's commission has to pay off before a dollar reaches you. The payslip looks identical either way, which is why the plan document is the only place to find out.
How do I tell which kind of draw I am on?
Read the plan document for the word 'recoverable', and separately for language about a 'draw balance', a 'deficit', or amounts 'carried forward'. Any of those means recoverable. Then read what happens to the balance if you leave: some agreements try to convert it into a debt on the way out, and several states do not permit an employer to recover a draw from a final paycheck at all. On the default numbers here the two treatments differ by $1,500 in a single good period — the amount of last period's advance being clawed back.
Is a tiered plan with an accelerator better than a flat rate?
Not automatically, and this is the point of pricing both. An accelerator is bought with a lower base rate, and the price is paid at the bottom of the range. On the default numbers, 3% up to a $150,000 quota and 8% above it pays $6,900 on $180,000 of sales, while a flat 5% pays $9,000 — the tiered plan is $2,100 WORSE at 120% of quota. It only overtakes the flat rate at $250,000 of sales, which is 167% of quota. A steep accelerator is a bet by the company that most reps miss quota and a bet by you that you will not.
Why was 22% taken off my commission?
That is the flat federal withholding rate for supplemental wages paid separately or identified separately from regular pay — a payroll convention, not your tax rate. On a $9,000 commission it holds back $1,980. A large commission on a modest salary is over-withheld and comes back as a refund; a large commission on a high salary is under-withheld and turns up as an April bill. Above $1,000,000 of supplemental wages in a calendar year the 37% rate on the excess is mandatory and the employer has no discretion. Social Security and Medicare come out on top of any of it.
Can my employer claw back commission on a deal that cancelled?
Usually the contract permits it, but the right is not unlimited. A deduction from a nonexempt employee's wages may not take that employee below the minimum wage for the workweek; several states require written authorisation for any wage deduction; and a few bar recovering a chargeback from a final paycheck. Worth noticing what a chargeback on a customer's non-payment actually does: it moves the credit risk of the customer onto you. That is a real contract term to negotiate, not an administrative detail.
Does a commission change the overtime I am owed?
If you are nonexempt, yes. A commission is includable compensation under the FLSA, so it enters the regular rate for the workweeks it was earned in and raises the overtime premium already worked. Where the commission covers a period longer than a week — a month or a quarter — the employer must apportion it back across those weeks and pay additional overtime on each. It is routinely missed, because the commission is calculated by one system and the overtime by another. The overtime page here builds the regular rate properly.
When is a commission actually earned?
Whenever the plan says, and that single sentence is the most expensive one in the document. Booked, shipped, invoiced and collected are four different dates that can be quarters apart. Plans commonly require you to be employed on the payment date, which turns a resignation two weeks early into a forfeiture. In a number of states a commission that is already earned counts as wages and cannot be forfeited by a policy that says otherwise — but whether it is payable on a final paycheck is state law, and it varies more than almost any other pay rule.
Why does the page compute all three plans instead of asking which one I am on?
Because the useful output is the comparison rather than the selection. A rep negotiating a plan wants to see all three on the same number, and a rep already on one wants to know what the other two would have paid. Which plan you are on was decided for you, so the honest answer is to price the alternatives — and the same reason applies to the draw treatment, which is one word in a contract worth $1,500 in the default period.