FICA Tax Calculator

Estimate employee and employer FICA — Social Security tax, Medicare tax and, optionally, Additional Medicare Tax — from the wages you enter, for one employee or a team.

Employees and wages

Employees

Single employeeMultiple employees

Wages

Per pay periodAnnual

Pay frequency

Used to convert between per-pay-period and annual figures for display.

Gross wages this pay period

Year-to-date Social Security wages already subject to tax

Wages already run through payroll earlier this year — this is what has already used up part of the Social Security wage base. Leave at 0 if the figure above already covers the full year.

Show annual projection

Social Security & Medicare rates

Social Security wage base

Per employee, per year.

Social Security rate

Medicare rate

Social Security tax applies only up to the wage base above; Medicare has no wage cap.

Additional Medicare Tax (optional)

Include Additional Medicare Tax

Employee-only, with no employer match. Off by default — turn this on only when it applies.

Your FICA tax

Based on a $184,500 Social Security wage base for the year, entered per biweekly pay period.

Combined FICA

$489.60

Employee FICA

$244.80

Employer FICA

$244.80

Social Security taxable wages

$3,200.00

Remaining SS wage base headroom

$152,500.00After this calculation

Uses 2026 rates, last reviewed 28 September 2026.

Gross wages, the Social Security cap, Medicare and the final FICA totals
Year-to-date Social Security wages already counted	$28,800.00
Gross wages	$3,200.00
Social Security wage base	$184,500
Social Security taxable wages	$3,200.00
Employee Social Security tax	$198.40
Employer Social Security tax	$198.40
Employee Medicare tax	$46.40
Employer Medicare tax	$46.40
Employee FICA	$244.80
Employer FICA	$244.80
Combined FICA	$489.60

Annual projection (this pay period repeated all year)

Projected or equivalent wages and FICA totals
Gross wages	$83,200.00
Social Security taxable wages	$83,200.00
Employee Social Security tax	$5,158.40
Employer Social Security tax	$5,158.40
Employee Medicare tax	$1,206.40
Employer Medicare tax	$1,206.40
Employee FICA	$6,364.80
Employer FICA	$6,364.80
Combined FICA	$12,729.60

Assumptions used in this result

Every rate and wage base assumption behind the result above
Social Security wage base	$184,500
Social Security rate	6.20%
Medicare rate	1.45%
Additional Medicare Tax	Not included
Pay frequency	Biweekly
Wage entry	Per pay period
Calculation basis	Single employee

Social Security tax stops once wages reach the annual wage base; Medicare has no wage cap. Additional Medicare Tax, where enabled, applies only to the employee above the filing-status threshold and has no employer match.

Save to My calculations

Compare scenarios

Keep this calculation as a scenario, change any input above, and the Now column shows how the result moves. Keep up to three, A to C; Open puts one back in the calculator.

How to use this calculator

Enter your wages and the FICA wage base and rates, and the result updates as you type. Every figure defaults to a working example — replace it with your own numbers.

Choose a single employee or multiple employees, and enter the employee count if needed.
Choose per-pay-period or annual wage entry, and set the pay frequency used to convert between the two for display.
Enter gross wages and, if relevant, the year-to-date Social Security wages already paid this year.
Check the Social Security wage base and both rates, which default to the standard statutory figures.
Turn on Additional Medicare Tax only if it applies, and choose a filing status to set its threshold.

Results update as you change any figure. Use Reset to return to the worked example.

What do I need to enter?

Employees — Single employee, or Multiple employees with a whole-number count from 1 to 100,000. Every employee gets the same wage figures.
Wages — Per pay period or Annual, with a pay frequency from weekly to annually used to convert between the two.
Gross wages — wages for the pay period or the year, 0 to $10,000,000.
Year-to-date Social Security wages already subject to tax — wages already taxed this year, which use up part of the wage base. Leave at 0 if your gross wages cover the whole year.
Show annual projection — a tick box, ticked by default. With per-pay-period wages it adds a projection that repeats this pay period for the whole year; with annual wages it readsShow per-pay-period figures and divides the annual result by the pay periods. It does not change the main figures.
Social Security wage base and rates — the wage base ($184,500 by default, up to $1,000,000) and the Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) rates, each 0% to 100%.
Include Additional Medicare Tax — optional tick box, off by default. It applies to the employee only. Once on, choose a Filing status to set the threshold, and edit the threshold or the 0.9% rate if needed.

What do the results show?

Combined FICA — the main figure: employee plus employer tax, for all employees included.
Employee FICA and Employer FICA — each side's Social Security and Medicare tax, with Additional Medicare Tax on the employee side when enabled.
Social Security taxable wages — the wages that count after the wage base cap.
Remaining SS wage base headroom — how much of the wage base is left after this calculation.
Annual projection or per-pay-period figures — the same sums scaled to a year or divided across pay periods, depending on how you entered wages.

How is FICA tax calculated?

Social Security taxable wages are capped at the wage base per employee, per year. Medicare has no cap. Both employee and employer pay a matching share of Social Security and Medicare tax; Additional Medicare Tax, where enabled, is withheld from the employee only, above the filing-status threshold, with no employer match.

Social Security taxable wages = max(0, min(gross wages, wage base − wages already counted))

Employee/employer Social Security tax = taxable wages × Social Security rate
Employee/employer Medicare tax = gross wages × Medicare rate (uncapped)
Additional Medicare tax = max(0, gross wages − threshold) × Additional Medicare rate (employee only)
Employee FICA = employee Social Security + employee Medicare + Additional Medicare
Employer FICA = employer Social Security + employer Medicare
Combined FICA = Employee FICA + Employer FICA

For example, an employee paid $3,200 in a pay period, with plenty of wage base headroom remaining, owes $198.40 in employee Social Security tax (6.2%) and $46.40 in employee Medicare tax (1.45%) — $244.80 in employee FICA. The employer matches both amounts for another $244.80, making $489.60 in combined FICA for that pay period.

What does this calculator assume?

Every wage, rate, threshold and wage base figure is one you enter or a clearly labelled statutory default — nothing is inferred or looked up automatically.
Multiple-employee mode applies the same wage figures to every employee included; there is no per-employee wage list.
Additional Medicare Tax's threshold-crossing test reuses the year-to-date Social Security wages figure rather than a separate year-to-date Medicare figure, since the two normally move together.
This calculator covers FICA tax only — federal and state income tax withholding, and state unemployment insurance, are not calculated here. For federal unemployment (FUTA) tax on the same wages, see the FUTA Tax Calculator.
This is a planning estimate, not a payroll tax filing, and not legal or tax advice.

Important information

Important: This is a payroll planning tool, not tax filing software, legal advice, or a full payroll system. It does not recommend tax strategy, compensation planning or compliance action.

Confirm current wage bases, rates and thresholds with the IRS, the SSA or a payroll professional before relying on these figures.

Frequently asked questions

What is FICA tax?

FICA is the Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. It has two parts — Social Security tax and Medicare tax — and both the employee and the employer pay a matching share on covered wages. This calculator estimates it from the wages, wage base and rates you enter; it is a payroll planning tool, not tax filing software.

What is the Social Security wage base?

The Social Security wage base is the amount of each employee's wages, per year, that Social Security tax applies to. Once an employee has been paid that amount in a year, no further wages that year are subject to Social Security tax, no matter how much more they earn. Each employee has their own wage base; it is never shared or pooled across employees. Medicare tax has no such cap.

What is the difference between employee and employer FICA?

Employee FICA is withheld from the employee's pay: their Social Security tax, their Medicare tax, and Additional Medicare Tax where it applies. Employer FICA is paid on top by the employer: a matching Social Security tax and a matching Medicare tax at the same rates. Additional Medicare Tax is the one exception — it is employee-only and has no employer match.

What is Additional Medicare Tax?

Additional Medicare Tax is an extra 0.9% Medicare tax withheld from an employee's wages above a threshold set by filing status — $200,000 for single, head of household or married filing separately, and $250,000 for married filing jointly. It applies to the employee only; there is no employer match. This calculator only includes it once you turn it on.

How is Social Security taxable wages calculated for one payment?

Taxable wages for a payment are the smaller of the wages being paid now and the wage base headroom still remaining — the wage base minus wages already paid to that employee earlier in the year. Once year-to-date wages reach the wage base, taxable wages for any further payment are zero, which is why the calculator flags this case directly.

How does the annual projection or per-pay-period view work?

Entering wages per pay period shows an optional annual projection, built by multiplying that pay period's wages by the number of pay periods in the pay frequency chosen and re-applying the wage base to the annual total — a "what if every period looked like this one" estimate, not a year-end reconciliation. Entering an annual figure instead shows the reverse: the computed annual result divided evenly across the pay periods.

How is FICA tax calculated for multiple employees?

Turn on "Multiple employees" and enter how many are included. The calculator applies the same wage figures to each employee and multiplies the per-employee result by the employee count — every employee gets their own full Social Security wage base, so wage bases are never pooled or shared across the team.

Does this calculator include federal or state income tax withholding?

No. This calculator covers FICA tax only — Social Security, Medicare and, where enabled, Additional Medicare Tax. Federal income tax withholding, state and local taxes, and state unemployment insurance are calculated separately and are not included here.

Is this calculator tax filing software or legal advice?

No. It is a payroll planning estimate built entirely from the wages, wage base and rates you enter or the clearly labelled statutory defaults. It does not file any payroll tax form and does not recommend tax strategy, compensation planning or compliance action — confirm figures against current IRS and SSA guidance or with a payroll professional before relying on them.

Last updated 26 October 2026. Rates last reviewed 28 September 2026. Source: IRS: Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates.