FICA Taxes on Your Pay Stub: Social Security and Medicare Explained

What Is FICA?

FICA stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act — the law that requires employers and employees to contribute to Social Security and Medicare. On your pay stub, you'll see FICA taxes broken into two line items:

• Social Security Tax (also labeled "OASDI" — Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance)
• Medicare Tax

FICA Tax Rates for 2026

Social Security Tax

• Rate: 6.2% of your gross wages
• Wage base: $176,100 (2026 — adjusted annually for inflation)
• Maximum per year: $10,918.20
• Once you hit the wage base, Social Security tax STOPS for the rest of the year

Medicare Tax

• Rate: 1.45% of your gross wages
• No wage limit: Medicare tax applies to ALL wages — no cap
• Additional 0.9% for high earners (see below)

Your Employer Matches Your FICA

Important: your employer pays an EQUAL amount of FICA taxes on top of what you pay. So if you pay 6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare = 7.65%, your employer also pays 7.65% — for a total contribution of 15.3% between you and your employer.

If you're self-employed, you pay the full 15.3% yourself (it's called Self-Employment Tax), though you can deduct half of it from your income taxes.

The Additional Medicare Tax (High Earners)

If your wages exceed certain thresholds, an additional 0.9% Medicare tax applies:

• Single filers: wages above $200,000
• Married filing jointly: wages above $250,000
• Married filing separately: wages above $125,000

Your employer automatically withholds the 0.9% once your wages from that employer exceed $200,000, regardless of your filing status. If the thresholds don't match (e.g., married filing jointly), you reconcile the difference on your tax return.

How to Verify Your FICA Taxes

On any given paycheck, you can verify the FICA withholding:

1. Find your gross wages for that pay period (before any deductions)
2. Multiply by 0.062 → that should match your Social Security withholding
3. Multiply by 0.0145 → that should match your Medicare withholding

Example: $5,000 gross pay → $310 Social Security + $72.50 Medicare = $382.50 total FICA

Why Does FICA Matter at Tax Time?

FICA taxes are not the same as income tax withholding. Key differences:

• FICA rates are fixed — no deductions or credits reduce them
• FICA taxes appear in Box 4 (Social Security) and Box 6 (Medicare) on your W-2
• You generally can't get a refund of overpaid FICA (unlike income tax), though you can claim a credit if two employers withheld more Social Security than the annual maximum