FICA on a Paycheck: Social Security and Medicare Taxes

FICA has two main parts

These are 2026 federal employment-tax figures for covered wages. Special situations and exceptions exist, so treat the table as an educational starting point rather than a universal payroll calculator. Because the figures are date-sensitive, verify the year against current IRS guidance.

FICA is not the same as federal income-tax withholding

A pay stub may show federal income-tax withholding, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax as separate lines.

That separation matters.

Federal income-tax withholding is connected to earnings, the payroll period, information supplied on Form W-4, and current IRS withholding methods.

Social Security and Medicare taxes follow separate employment-tax rules. The W-4 does not simply choose the FICA percentage.

This is one reason a paycheck can contain several different “tax” deductions even though they all reduce net pay.

Social Security tax on a paycheck

The Social Security portion of FICA is sometimes labeled Social Security, SS, or OASDI.

For 2026, the employee rate is 6.2% on covered Social Security wages up to the annual wage base of $184,500. The employer generally pays a matching 6.2% standard share. See IRS Topic 751.

The wage base is important because the Social Security portion does not continue applying in the same way above that annual limit. The wage base can change from year to year, so the current figure is labeled with its year and review date.

Medicare tax on a paycheck

For 2026, the standard employee Medicare tax rate is 1.45%, and the standard employer share is also 1.45%. Unlike Social Security tax, Medicare tax does not have the same annual wage-base limit. See IRS Topic 751.

Some higher wages can also trigger Additional Medicare Tax withholding. That rule has its own threshold and does not have an employer match. Because final Additional Medicare Tax liability can depend on filing-status rules, this lesson does not use it to estimate a person’s tax outcome. Because these rules can change, current details should be checked on the IRS source page.

Why the employer share is different from a paycheck deduction

A worker may see the employee Social Security and Medicare amounts on a pay stub. The employer also generally has its own standard share under federal rules.

The employer share is not usually money that first becomes employee take-home pay and is then removed. It is an employer employment-tax cost.

This distinction is useful when learning about total compensation because employer payroll-tax cost, employer-provided benefits, and employee take-home pay are different categories.

Worked fictional paycheck example

Assume a fictional employee has $2,400 of covered wages in one pay period and remains below the 2026 Social Security wage base.

Employee Social Security tax

$2,400 × 6.2% = $148.80

Employee Medicare tax

$2,400 × 1.45% = $34.80

Standard employee FICA in this simplified example

$148.80 + $34.80 = $183.60

That $183.60 does not include federal income-tax withholding, state or local taxes, benefits, retirement contributions, or other deductions.

The employer would generally have its own matching standard Social Security and Medicare shares in this simplified below-wage-base example.

Why “7.65% of every paycheck” is too simple

Below the Social Security wage base, adding 6.2% and 1.45% produces 7.65%.

But that shortcut has limits:

• the Social Security wage base caps the standard Social Security portion each year;
• Medicare does not use that same wage base;
• Additional Medicare Tax can apply to some wages;
• some types of workers, wages, or special circumstances can follow different rules.

A simplified example below the wage base can use 7.65% to illustrate the standard employee Social Security and Medicare percentages together, but 7.65% is not a universal tax on every dollar of every paycheck.

Common labels on a pay stub

A payroll system might use labels such as:

• Social Security
• SS
• OASDI
• Medicare
• MED
• FICA

The label alone does not replace the underlying payroll record. If a real pay stub is unclear, employer payroll materials can explain how that system labels its deductions.

The Pay Stub Decoder accepts fictional deduction labels for educational practice; it does not determine whether a real payroll tax line is legally correct.

What this lesson does not calculate

This lesson does not determine:

• exact federal income-tax withholding;
• state or local taxes;
• self-employment tax;
• special wage treatment;
• Additional Medicare Tax liability for a specific filing status;
• whether a real employer payroll record is correct.

Use current IRS guidance for current rules.

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