Payroll
FICA (Social Security & Medicare Tax)
The federal payroll taxes funding Social Security and Medicare, split between employer and employee. Total combined rate is 15.3% on wages up to the Social Security wage base, then 2.9% (plus surtax) on additional wages.
FICA combines Social Security tax (6.2% on wages up to $184,500 in 2026) and Medicare tax (1.45% on all wages, plus 0.9% additional Medicare tax on wages over $200K single / $250K married). Both employer and employee contribute matching amounts.
Self-employed individuals pay both halves themselves via self-employment tax, the same 15.3% combined rate on the first $184,500 and 2.9% (plus surtax) above that.
The Social Security wage base is the pivotal number for cash-flow planning. In 2026 it caps at $184,500 — every wage dollar above that is Medicare-only, so a $500k earner's marginal payroll-tax hit drops from 15.3% to 3.8% (including the Medicare surtax) after the base is exhausted. This is why bonus timing and second-job stacking matter: two half-time jobs paying $150k each cross the base twice, costing an extra $8k+ in over-withheld SS tax that must be reclaimed on the personal return.
For owner-employees of S-corps, the FICA math is the whole point of the election. Wages are FICA-taxable; distributions aren't. The savings compound over time — but there's no way to opt out of FICA on the wage side, and pushing wages too low invites the reasonable-comp exam.
The employer-side FICA is a real cost of hiring that employers should model as such. A $100k salary carries $7,650 of employer FICA + Medicare (before FUTA and SUTA and benefits) — the loaded cost is ~$107,650. Growing businesses that budget wages without loading the employer taxes routinely undershoot payroll expense by 8-10%.
Common pitfalls
- Ignoring the additional 0.9% Medicare tax on high-income wages — it's an employee-only tax the employer withholds but doesn't match
- Missing the Social Security wage-base reset for someone with multiple W-2 jobs in the same year — over-withheld SS gets reclaimed via Schedule 3, but only if the return is prepared to catch it
- Budgeting wages without loading the employer FICA — a $100k salary is a ~$107,650 payroll cost
- Setting an S-corp owner's wage too low relative to reasonable comp to duck FICA — the IRS reasonable-comp exam is exactly this
Related service
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