Educational only: Work and pay decision support, not tax, legal, financial or career advice.
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Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: US work and pay planning using your own assumptions.
What this calculator helps you decide
Best for
Estimating employee FICA on one 2026 US wage payment using prior YTD wages.
Outputs
Social Security, Medicare, Additional Medicare and total employee FICA.
Start here
Enter this payment and the two employer year-to-date wage bases before it.
- Close-intent boundary
- Do not use this to estimate complete take-home pay; use Gross to Net Pay Using Your Tax Rate Calculator for an explicitly user-entered flat-rate scenario. Federal, state and local income tax are excluded.
Estimate tax and statutory pay
US FICA Tax: social security
Social Security, Medicare, Additional Medicare and total employee FICA.
2026 employee FICA inputs
Use one payment and the year-to-date wage amounts immediately before it.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Enter gross wages subject to employee FICA for this payment.
Enter calendar-year Social Security wages before this payment.
Enter calendar-year Medicare wages before this payment.
Pretax 401(k) wage-basis contextOpen the assumptions you are less likely to change on every comparison.
This reduces the displayed federal income-tax wage basis, but not FICA wages.
Calculated result
Employee Social Security, Medicare and Additional Medicare withholding remain separate.
PDF and CSV exports stay on this device. Clean page links contain no inputs.
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Entered scenarioUS$382.50Baseline
Gross wages in this payment: US$5,250.00US$401.63US$19.13
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Total employee FICA
Total employee FICA
totalEmployeeFica = socialSecurityTax + medicareTax + additionalMedicareTaxUS$382.50ResultUS$382.50
Social Security, Medicare and employer-withheld Additional Medicare. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Total employee FICA formula →Employee Social Security
Social Security
socialSecurityTax = min(grossWages, max(0, 184500 − priorSocialSecurityWages)) × 0.062US$310.00ResultUS$310.00
6.2% of wages remaining below the 2026 wage base. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Employee Social Security formula →Employee Medicare
Medicare
medicareTax = grossWages × 0.0145US$72.50ResultUS$72.50
1.45% of gross FICA wages. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Employee Medicare formula →Additional Medicare withheld
Additional Medicare withholding
additionalMedicareTax = newlyCrossedEmployerThresholdWages × 0.009US$0.00ResultUS$0.00
0.9% on employer YTD Medicare wages above $200,000. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Additional Medicare withheld formula →FICA wage basis
FICA wages
ficaWages = grossWagesUS$5,000.00ResultUS$5,000.00
Gross wages; pretax 401(k) contributions do not reduce FICA wages. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
FICA wage basis formula →Federal income-tax wage basis before other adjustments
Federal income-tax wage basis before other adjustments
federalIncomeTaxWagesBeforeOtherAdjustments = grossWages − pretax401kContributionUS$4,500.00ResultUS$4,500.00
Gross wages less the entered pretax 401(k) contribution. Displayed using the engine-rounded value.
Federal income-tax wage basis before other adjustments formula →Inputs used
- Gross wages in this payment
- US$5,000.00
- Social Security wages before this payment
- US$50,000.00
- Medicare wages before this payment
- US$50,000.00
- Pretax 401(k) contribution in this payment
- US$500.00
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario values are visible in the URL, calculations run in the browser, and optional saved state stays only on this device. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| grossWages | Enter gross wages subject to employee FICA for this payment. | USD/payment | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 5000 |
| socialSecurityWagesYearToDateBeforePayment | Enter calendar-year Social Security wages before this payment. | USD/year-to-date | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 50000 |
| medicareWagesYearToDateBeforePayment | Enter calendar-year Medicare wages before this payment. | USD/year-to-date | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 50000 |
| pretax401kContribution | This reduces the displayed federal income-tax wage basis, but not FICA wages. | USD/payment | 0 to 100000000 | Required | 500 |
US FICA Tax: social security
Use this only as bounded employee FICA withholding, not complete tax or take-home pay.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- totalEmployeeFica = socialSecurityTax + medicareTax + additionalMedicareTax
Data used here
- 2026 US employee FICA rates, wage base and withholding threshold: Internal Revenue Service; verified; checked 2026-07-27.
Decision checks
Act on the result
Confirm both year-to-date wage bases against the employer payroll record.
Stress-test the decision
Retest a payment that crosses the Social Security or $200,000 Medicare threshold.
Assumptions and sources
- 2026 US employee FICA rates, wage base and withholding threshold
- Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15 (2026) Checked 2026-07-27.
Primary source →
When this estimate can be misleading
- Federal, state and local income-tax withholding and final tax liability are excluded.
- Additional Medicare uses the employer withholding threshold, not filing-status liability.
- Employer taxes, benefits, exemptions, corrections and full take-home pay are excluded.
- Use this only as bounded employee FICA withholding, not complete tax or take-home pay.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Use these practical guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- US FICA Tax: what the Wage101 calculator includes
Calculate 2026 employee Social Security, Medicare and Additional Medicare withholding for one payment using year-to-date wages.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How much employee FICA should be withheld from this 2026 US wage payment?
Confirm both year-to-date wage bases against the employer payroll record.
Does this calculate tax or take-home pay?
US employee FICA only. Federal, state and local income tax and take-home pay are not calculated.
Which official source and period does this use?
Official source: Internal Revenue Service Publication 15 (2026), reviewed 27 July 2026. Coverage: 2026 calendar year.
Can I share or save a scenario?
Tool inputs and results stay in this browser. Anonymous categorical usage analytics send only governed page, tool, cluster and action identifiers; tool inputs and results are never sent. Error monitoring is disabled. Optional saved state stays only on this device.
How should I use the calculated result?
Treat the calculated result as one scenario, then verify the input record with the greatest effect on that result.