What is FICA made of?

Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%, so 7.65% for an employee in the ordinary case. An employer matches both, meaning 15.3% reaches the two programmes in total, which is the same combined rate a self-employed person pays alone.

Why did Social Security stop being withheld?

Because your wages for the year reached the Social Security wage base, after which no further Social Security tax applies until January. This calculator uses the 2024 base of $168,600, and a new figure is set each year.

Does this include federal income tax withholding?

No, only FICA is calculated here. Federal income tax withholding follows the IRS percentage-method tables in Publication 15-T and depends on your Form W-4, which the W-4 Withholding Calculator addresses instead.

How should I read the Additional Medicare line?

As a year-to-date figure rather than a per-paycheck one. The tool applies 0.9% to your entire cumulative excess above the threshold each time it runs, so it shows the surtax owed so far rather than the part attributable to this paycheck.

Does my employer match the additional 0.9 percent?

No. The employer matches only the 6.2% Social Security and the 1.45% base Medicare contribution. The Additional Medicare Tax is an employee-only obligation, which is exactly why it is shown as a separate line here.

What about unemployment tax?

Federal and state unemployment taxes are employer obligations and are not withheld from employee pay, so they never appear on this page. An employer budgeting total payroll cost needs to add them separately.

Are state and local taxes included?

No. State income tax, local wage taxes, and state disability or paid-leave contributions all vary by jurisdiction and none are modelled, so your actual payslip will carry more deduction lines than this calculator produces.

Is this useful for payroll outside the United States?

No. FICA is a US federal payroll system. Payroll and withholding for Pakistani employers fall under FBR rules and are handled by TaxEase paid services, entirely separately from these free US tools.

Payroll Tax Calculator: FICA Withheld Per Paycheck 2024

Payroll Tax Calculator: FICA Withheld Per Paycheck 2024The Payroll Tax Calculator is a free browser-based tool that works out the FICA withheld from one US paycheck: Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base, Medicare at 1.45% with no ceiling, and the Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% once cumulative earnings pass a filing-status threshold. Because both the wage base and that threshold depend on what you have already earned this year, the calculator asks for year-to-date pay alongside the current period. It reports each component separately before combining them, and runs entirely in your browser as an estimate rather than as a payroll authority.

What people use it for

Checking a payslip that looks wrong

An employee whose deductions changed noticeably between two consecutive paychecks wants to confirm the numbers before raising it. Entering gross pay and year-to-date earnings reproduces the Social Security and Medicare lines exactly, which either confirms the payslip is right or gives a specific figure to take to payroll.

A small employer budgeting the matching cost

An owner running payroll for four people needs to reserve the employer share alongside the wages themselves. Since the employer matches Social Security and Medicare but never the surtax, running each employee here produces the matching liability that has to be funded every single pay period.

Explaining why a December paycheck grew

A high earner notices take-home pay rising late in the year with no raise and no change to their W-4. Entering a year-to-date figure past the wage base shows Social Security dropping to zero, which is the entire explanation and is otherwise easily mistaken for a payroll error.

Modelling a raise before accepting it

Someone offered a rise from $6,000 to $7,500 per period wants the difference after FICA rather than before it. Running both figures shows FICA taking a predictable 7.65% of the increase until the wage base intervenes, which sharpens the comparison against benefit changes in the same offer.

How it works

Enter gross pay for this period The full amount before any deduction for this single paycheck, whether it is weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. Every component below is derived directly from this one figure.
Enter year-to-date earnings What you have already been paid this year, excluding the current period. It determines how much wage base remains available for Social Security and whether the surtax has already been triggered.
Select your filing status It sets the Additional Medicare Tax threshold at $200,000 for single and head of household filers, $250,000 for married filing jointly, or $125,000 for married filing separately.
Press Calculate Payroll Tax Social Security applies at 6.2% to whatever part of this paycheck still falls under the 2024 wage base of $168,600, while Medicare applies at 1.45% to the entire amount without limit.
Read the three component cards Social Security, Medicare, and Additional Medicare are shown separately beneath the combined FICA total, so each line can be matched directly against the corresponding line on your payslip.

Worked examples

Input: Gross pay $5,000, year-to-date $0, single

Result: Social Security $310.00, Medicare $72.50, Additional Medicare $0.00, total FICA $382.50. That is the standard 7.65% combined rate applying to most paychecks for most of the year, before any income tax is withheld.

Input: Gross pay $10,000, year-to-date $165,000, single

Result: Only $3,600 of wage base remains, so Social Security is $223.20 rather than $620.00. Medicare is the full $145.00, giving total FICA of $368.20, and the next paycheck will carry no Social Security at all.

Input: Gross pay $20,000, year-to-date $195,000, single

Result: Social Security $0.00 because the wage base is already exhausted, Medicare $290.00, and Additional Medicare $135.00 on the $15,000 of cumulative income above $200,000. Total FICA $425.00 for the period.

Frequently asked questions

What is FICA made of?: Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%, so 7.65% for an employee in the ordinary case. An employer matches both, meaning 15.3% reaches the two programmes in total, which is the same combined rate a self-employed person pays alone.
Why did Social Security stop being withheld?: Because your wages for the year reached the Social Security wage base, after which no further Social Security tax applies until January. This calculator uses the 2024 base of $168,600, and a new figure is set each year.
Does this include federal income tax withholding?: No, only FICA is calculated here. Federal income tax withholding follows the IRS percentage-method tables in Publication 15-T and depends on your Form W-4, which the W-4 Withholding Calculator addresses instead.
How should I read the Additional Medicare line?: As a year-to-date figure rather than a per-paycheck one. The tool applies 0.9% to your entire cumulative excess above the threshold each time it runs, so it shows the surtax owed so far rather than the part attributable to this paycheck.
Does my employer match the additional 0.9 percent?: No. The employer matches only the 6.2% Social Security and the 1.45% base Medicare contribution. The Additional Medicare Tax is an employee-only obligation, which is exactly why it is shown as a separate line here.
What about unemployment tax?: Federal and state unemployment taxes are employer obligations and are not withheld from employee pay, so they never appear on this page. An employer budgeting total payroll cost needs to add them separately.
Are state and local taxes included?: No. State income tax, local wage taxes, and state disability or paid-leave contributions all vary by jurisdiction and none are modelled, so your actual payslip will carry more deduction lines than this calculator produces.
Is this useful for payroll outside the United States?: No. FICA is a US federal payroll system. Payroll and withholding for Pakistani employers fall under FBR rules and are handled by TaxEase paid services, entirely separately from these free US tools.

Tips

Enter an accurate year-to-date figure if you changed jobs. A new employer restarts wage base tracking from zero, so Social Security can be over-withheld across the year and the excess is reclaimed on your return.
For an employer, double the Social Security and Medicare figures to get the true cost of the paycheck, then leave the surtax out of the matching calculation entirely.
Do not treat the total here as your full deduction. Federal income tax, state tax, and benefit contributions all sit outside FICA and will reduce take-home pay further.
When a bonus is paid in the same period, add it to gross pay before calculating. FICA applies to supplemental wages exactly as it does to ordinary salary.

Written by Ahsan Mahmood. Last updated 2026-07-21. This calculator runs entirely in your browser and produces estimates, not tax advice.TaxEase — Payroll Tax Calculator: FICA Withheld Per Paycheck 2024