"No tax on overtime" is the most misunderstood piece of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). It does not make overtime paychecks tax-free. It's a federal income-tax deduction for tax years 2025–2028 that covers only the FLSA-required premium portion of overtime — the extra "half" in time-and-a-half — and for 2026 it only works if the employer reports that number separately on the W-2. Here's the arithmetic, with examples.
Per the IRS, "qualified overtime compensation" is overtime required by section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act that exceeds the employee's regular rate. Two consequences:
Maria earns $20/hr and works 10 overtime hours a week for 50 weeks in 2026 at time-and-a-half ($30/hr). Her total OT pay is $15,000 — but her qualified overtime is 500 hrs × $10 premium = $5,000. That's the number that belongs in W-2 Box 12 code TT, and the most she can deduct.
Dev's regular rate is $20/hr and his employer pays double time ($40/hr) for hours over 40. For each OT hour, only the FLSA-required half — $10 — is qualified overtime. The extra $10/hr above the FLSA requirement is ordinary wages. 100 OT hours → $2,000 wages at base rate + $1,000 qualified premium + $1,000 non-qualified extra premium.
Priya works four 10-hour days (40 hours total) in a state with daily overtime after 8 hours. Her 8 hours of daily-OT premium are required by state law, not by FLSA §7 (she never exceeded 40 hours in the workweek) — so none of it is qualified overtime for the federal deduction.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Maximum deduction | $12,500 per year ($25,000 married filing jointly) |
| Phase-out | Reduced once modified AGI exceeds $150,000 ($300,000 joint) — $100 of deduction lost per $1,000 of MAGI over the threshold |
| Who can claim it | Employees with FLSA-required OT reported on their W-2 (self-employed/1099 amounts use 1099-NEC box 1d / 1099-MISC box 14). Available whether or not you itemize; joint filing required if married |
| Years | 2025–2028 |
| Payroll taxes | Unchanged — Social Security/Medicare withholding and employer payroll taxes still apply to all OT pay |
Sam (single) has $8,000 of qualified overtime premium and MAGI of $170,000. That's $20,000 over the $150,000 threshold → the deduction shrinks by 20 × $100 = $2,000. Sam deducts $6,000.
For tax year 2026 the reporting is mandatory: the final 2026 Form W-2 adds Box 12 code TT — total qualified overtime compensation (the premium-only number, not total OT pay). (Tips get code TP plus a Treasury occupation code in new Box 14b — covered in the employer guide.) The 2025 penalty grace period does not extend to 2026, so the practical to-do is simple but relentless: capture the premium split every pay period — regular rate, OT hours, premium-only dollars, per employee. Reconstructing a year of splits in January 2027 is the failure mode.
TipLedger tracks per-period qualified-tip and OT-premium splits that reconcile to W-2-ready totals (Box 12 TP/TT). Free during the beta.
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