FICA Tax Calculator
↻ Updated 2026Break down your FICA payroll taxes for 2026 — 6.2% Social Security up to the wage base and 1.45% Medicare (plus 0.9% for high earners) — showing the employee, employer and combined amounts.
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How to read your FICA breakdown
The employer column is the point of this page. On the defaults your employer pays $6,503 in FICA on your behalf — money that is part of what you cost, appears nowhere on your payslip, and belongs to the same two programmes. The combined figure is what your work actually sends to Social Security and Medicare: $13,005 on $85,000.
How Social Security and Medicare withholding is calculated
Two taxes with completely different shapes, collected together and reported as one line. Social Security is 6.2% but stops at a wage base. Medicare is 1.45% and never stops — it rises instead.
Both are matched by your employer, with one exception that matters at the top end: the additional 0.9% Medicare tax on high wages is an employee-only charge. Your employer withholds it but pays nothing toward it, which is the only point in the FICA system where the two columns disagree.
employee: Social Security = 6.2% × min(wages, $184,500) Medicare = 1.45% × wages + 0.9% × (wages − threshold), if above employer: Social Security = 6.2% × min(wages, $184,500) Medicare = 1.45% × wages ← no 0.9%, ever combined = employee + employer 2026 additional Medicare thresholds: single / head of household $200,000 married filing jointly $250,000 married filing separately $125,000
- wages
- Gross wages, before any deduction — 401(k) and HSA contributions do not reduce this — only the income tax base
- $184,500
- The 2026 Social Security wage base — SSA 2026 contribution and benefit base, up from $176,100 in 2025; indexed to the national average wage index
- 6.2%
- The Social Security rate, each side — 12.4% combined; unchanged since 1990 (IRS Topic 751)
- 1.45%
- The Medicare rate, each side — 2.9% combined, on every dollar — Medicare has had no wage cap since 1994
- 0.9%
- The additional Medicare tax on high wages — employee only, no employer match, no employer liability (IRS Topic 560)
- threshold
- Where the additional Medicare tax begins, by filing status — fixed in statute since 2013 and never inflation-indexed — unlike the wage base
The two taxes pull in opposite directions as pay rises. Social Security is regressive: it stops at $184,500, so the more you earn beyond that the smaller a share of your income it takes. Medicare is mildly progressive: 1.45% throughout, then 2.35% for the employee above the threshold. Below $184,500 they combine to a flat 7.65% on every dollar with no exemption whatsoever — which makes FICA the first tax most low earners pay and often the largest.
One quirk worth naming: your employer applies the $200,000 withholding trigger to your wages at that job, ignoring your filing status entirely. A married couple each earning $150,000 will have no 0.9% withheld anywhere, yet owes it on $50,000 of their combined $300,000. That reconciliation happens on Form 8959 at filing, and it's a common source of an unexpected balance due.
Worked examples
Example: $85,000 of wages, single filer
The calculator's defaults. Well below both the wage base and the additional Medicare threshold — the simple case, which is most people.
| Annual wagesgross, before anything | $85,000 |
| Social Security — employee (6.2%)6.2% of $85,000 | $5,270 |
| Medicare — employee (1.45%)1.45% of $85,000 | $1,233 |
| Employee total7.65% — what leaves your payslip | $6,503 |
| Employer totalan exact mirror at this income | $6,503 |
| Combined FICA15.3% of your wages | $13,005 |
| Effective rate on wagesyour half only | 7.6% |
$6,503 from you and $6,503 from your employer. The true cost of employing you is $91,503, not $85,000, and 15.3% of your wages goes to Social Security and Medicare. Note there is no deduction and no bracket — someone earning $12,000 pays exactly the same 7.65% rate on every dollar as you do.
Example: $250,000 of wages — past both thresholds
Drag wages to $250,000 and keep the filing status at single. Both of FICA's unusual features switch on at once.
| Social Security — employeecapped: 6.2% of $184,500, not of $250,000 | $11,439 |
| Medicare — employee (1.45% + 0.9%)$3,625 base plus $450 on the top $50,000 | $4,075 |
| Employee totalincludes the employee-only surtax | $15,514 |
| Employer total$450 less — no employer match on the 0.9% | $15,064 |
| Combined FICAemployee + employer | $30,578 |
| Effective rate on wagesdown from 7.6% at $85,000 | 6.2% |
Wages tripled, FICA didn't. The employee rate fell from 7.6% to 6.2% because Social Security stopped at $11,439 and will not grow again this year. This is also the first income at which you pay more FICA than your employer does — $450 more — because the 0.9% additional Medicare tax has no employer half. Past the wage base your marginal FICA rate drops to 1.45%, then rises to 2.35% above $200,000 — never back to 7.65%.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Social Security wage base for 2026?
$184,500, up from $176,100 in 2025 — an increase of $8,400, or 4.8% (Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base). Wages above that are not subject to the 6.2% Social Security tax, for you or your employer.
The base is indexed to the national average wage index rather than to prices, which is why it typically climbs faster than the inflation adjustments to tax brackets. The maximum Social Security tax any one job can withhold from you in 2026 is therefore $11,439 — 6.2% of $184,500. Medicare's 1.45% has no such ceiling and never has since the cap was removed in 1994.
Why did my Social Security tax stop being taken out of my paycheck?
Because your year-to-date wages crossed $184,500, the 2026 wage base. Once you hit it, your employer stops withholding the 6.2% for the rest of the calendar year and your take-home pay jumps — then the withholding resumes in January when the counter resets.
Medicare keeps going, which is why the deduction shrinks rather than disappearing: you continue paying 1.45%, and above $200,000 of wages you start paying 2.35%. The jump is not a payroll error and not a raise. It's also worth knowing that stopping the tax stops the benefit accrual — earnings above the base don't count toward your Social Security benefit calculation either.
Do employers pay the additional 0.9% Medicare tax?
No. The 0.9% additional Medicare tax is the only part of FICA with no employer match — the employer must withhold it once your wages at that job exceed $200,000, but owes nothing itself (IRS Topic 560). Every other component of FICA is matched dollar for dollar.
This produces the asymmetry visible in the second example: at $250,000 of wages the employee pays $15,514 and the employer $15,064. The $450 difference is the surtax. One consequence catches high earners with two jobs: the employer applies the $200,000 trigger to its own payroll only, so two jobs at $150,000 each withhold nothing, while a single filer owes the surtax on $100,000 of that $300,000. Form 8959 settles the difference at filing.
Can I get a refund of excess Social Security tax withheld from two jobs?
Yes, if the over-withholding came from two or more employers. Each employer must withhold Social Security up to the wage base independently — they have no way to see each other's payroll — so working two jobs that total more than $184,500 means paying the 6.2% twice on the overlap. You claim the excess as a credit on Schedule 3 of Form 1040, and it's added to your refund (IRS Topic 608).
The distinction that matters: this works only across multiple employers. If a single employer withheld too much, you can't claim the credit — you ask that employer to correct it, and if they won't, you file Form 843 separately. Note that the employers' halves are not refunded to anyone; only your overpayment comes back.
What this FICA calculator doesn't cover
The rates are exact and the arithmetic is simple. The gaps are all about what the tool cannot see.
- One job only — The wage base and the additional Medicare threshold both apply to your total earnings across the year, but this calculator takes a single wage figure. Two jobs, or a job plus self-employment, and the real numbers diverge — usually toward over-withheld Social Security and under-withheld additional Medicare.
- The employer's real cost is higher — The employer column here is FICA only. Federal and state unemployment tax, workers' compensation and any benefits sit on top of it, so $91,503 is a floor on what an $85,000 employee costs, not the total.
- No income tax — FICA is not income tax and this page shows none of it. The two are withheld from the same paycheck against different bases — FICA on gross wages, income tax on wages after pre-tax contributions and the standard deduction. For the other half of the withholding, see the federal income tax calculator.
- Self-employment income isn't wages — Schedule C profit isn't entered here and doesn't behave the same way: it's charged on 92.35% of profit rather than on the full amount, and both halves fall on you. Enter self-employment earnings in the wages field and the tool will understate the tax.
- Exempt wages — Some earnings are outside FICA entirely — certain student employment, some nonresident visa categories, and specific state and local government arrangements. The calculator applies FICA to whatever you enter.
- ·IRS Topic 751 — Social Security & Medicare withholding rates
- ·Social Security Administration — 2026 wage base — $184,500 Social Security taxable maximum for 2026
Rates, brackets and limits here are checked against primary sources. If a number still looks off, email support@realmoneyiq.com and we'll review and fix it.
RealMoneyIQ provides free educational calculators, not financial, tax, investment or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the assumptions you enter and publicly published rates; your actual outcome will differ. Always confirm decisions with a licensed professional who knows your full situation.