I always add in bonus in my annual income to credit card applications. Do you work in the financial industry? Because base would essentially be really under reporting salary since bonus is an expected and significant portion of our salaries. I usually go for an average of past couple years' bonuses so that at least it's easy to justify with bank statements/tax returns/income verification letters from employer should the CC company request it. I have had to actually provide this verification info once and the CC company was fine with the income verification letters disclosing my bonuses in the past 2 years as justification for adding bonus in my reported annual income.