FICA Tax Calculator

Estimate 2026 US employee, employer, combined payroll, or simplified self-employment FICA from compensation and prior year-to-date wages, with withholding-focused Social Security and Medicare outputs.

US FICA tax calculator Use gross payroll wages for employee, employer, or combined payroll views. The calculator applies the 2026 Social Security wage base and the employer Additional Medicare withholding rule, which begins above 200,000 of wages paid to one employee regardless of filing status.

Mode

Compensation amount

Enter gross wages for the payroll slice you want to test.

Prior year-to-date wages already paid

Used for the 2026 Social Security wage base and for the employer Additional Medicare withholding rule that starts above 200,000 of wages paid to one employee.

Display currency

Switch displayed amounts without changing the US FICA assumptions.

Currency

Enter values Provide compensation to estimate 2026 US FICA taxes.

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Tax Basics

FICA tax calculator guide: estimate 2026 US Social Security and Medicare withholding

A FICA tax calculator estimates the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes tied to wages or self-employment income. This Calcipedia version stays narrow on purpose: payroll modes estimate 2026 US withholding for employee, employer, or combined payroll views, while the self-employed mode shows a simplified Schedule SE-style baseline without Additional Medicare tax.

About this calculator

Reviewed 2026-03-21

Methodology

Payroll modes apply the 2026 Social Security wage base of 184,500, employee and employer Social Security rates of 6.2%, Medicare rates of 1.45%, and the employer Additional Medicare withholding rule that begins above 200,000 of wages paid to one employee. The self-employed mode multiplies net self-employment income by 92.35%, applies the 12.4% Social Security rate up to the remaining wage base, applies the 2.9% Medicare rate, and reports the deductible half of the resulting simplified self-employment tax.

Limitations

Supports 2026 US payroll-tax assumptions only.
Payroll modes estimate withholding rather than final return liability for Additional Medicare tax.
The self-employed mode is a simplified baseline and does not include Additional Medicare tax or full Schedule SE edge cases.
This is an educational estimate, not payroll software, tax advice, or return-preparation software.

Disclaimer

Use the result as a payroll-tax planning estimate only. For withholding, filing, or compliance decisions, compare it with current IRS and SSA guidance plus your own payroll records.

Sources

IRS Publication 15 — Official IRS employer guide for payroll-tax rates and withholding rules.
IRS — Questions and answers for the Additional Medicare Tax — Official IRS explanation of Additional Medicare withholding and liability thresholds.
SSA — Contribution and benefit base — Official SSA reference for the annual Social Security wage base.
IRS Publication 334 — Official IRS small-business guide used here as self-employment tax context.

See our calculation methodology and editorial standards for how this estimate is produced.

What FICA includes

FICA is the payroll-tax framework that funds Social Security and Medicare. For wages, the employee and employer each owe Social Security tax up to the annual wage base and Medicare tax on covered wages, with Additional Medicare withholding beginning above the employer withholding threshold.

That is why a FICA calculator is useful beyond a normal take-home pay estimate. It lets you isolate the payroll-tax layer from income tax so you can see how much of a wage payment is being withheld for Social Security and Medicare alone.

How the calculator handles payroll modes

In payroll modes, the calculator uses the 2026 Social Security wage base of 184,500 and applies the standard employee and employer rates to the portion of wages that still fits under that cap. Medicare applies to the full wage amount in the payroll model.

For Additional Medicare, the page models employer withholding rather than final tax-return liability. That means the withholding starts once wages paid to one employee exceed 200,000, regardless of filing status. The actual liability threshold on the tax return can differ for married-filing-jointly or married-filing-separately taxpayers, so this is a payroll estimate, not a final return calculation.

Employee Social Security tax = Min(current wages, remaining wage base) x 6.2%

Social Security withholding applies only up to the remaining 2026 wage base after prior year-to-date wages are considered.

Employee Medicare tax = Current wages x 1.45%

Base Medicare withholding applies to the wage amount entered in the payroll modes.

Employer Additional Medicare withholding starts above 200,000 of wages paid to one employee

This page follows the payroll withholding rule, not the final-filing liability threshold that can vary by filing status.

Worked example: 100,000 of wages after 150,000 already paid

Suppose an employee receives another 100,000 of wages after 150,000 of prior year-to-date wages have already been paid. Only 34,500 of the new wages still fit under the 2026 Social Security wage base, so employee Social Security tax on this payroll slice is 2,139. Medicare tax on the full 100,000 is 1,450.

Because the cumulative wages now reach 250,000, the payroll withholding model also adds 450 of Additional Medicare withholding on the portion above 200,000. The employee-side FICA total is therefore 4,039, while the combined employee-plus-employer payroll tax on the same wage slice is 7,628.

What the self-employed mode does and does not do

The self-employed baseline mode follows the same simplified Schedule SE assumptions already used elsewhere in Calcipedia. It multiplies net self-employment income by 92.35% to estimate net earnings subject to tax, applies the 12.4% Social Security rate up to the remaining wage base, applies the 2.9% Medicare rate, and reports the deductible half of the tax.

It intentionally excludes Additional Medicare tax and other return-level details. That keeps the scope consistent and truthful for first-pass planning, but it also means the result should not be treated as a full Schedule SE or Form 1040 filing calculation.

FICA Tax Calculator

FICA tax calculator guide: estimate 2026 US Social Security and Medicare withholding

What FICA includes

How the calculator handles payroll modes

Worked example: 100,000 of wages after 150,000 already paid

What the self-employed mode does and does not do

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