For 2026, the combined FICA and Social Security tax rate is 15.3% of covered wages, split evenly between you and your employer at 7.65% each. That 7.65% breaks down into 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare. Your employer matches both. If you work for yourself, you pay the full 15.3% on your own. Social Security tax stops once your wages for the year cross $184,500; Medicare tax keeps going on every dollar, and high earners owe an additional 0.9% on top.1Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates
The 2026 Rates in Detail
The Social Security portion of FICA is 6.2% withheld from your paycheck, matched by 6.2% from your employer, for a combined 12.4%. The Medicare portion is 1.45% from you and 1.45% from your employer, for a combined 2.9%. Add them together and you get the 15.3% total, though the amount that actually leaves your paycheck is 7.65%.1Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates
These rates apply to most forms of pay, not just base salary. Bonuses, commissions, and cash tips are all subject to both halves of FICA.2Internal Revenue Service. Tip Recordkeeping and Reporting Employer contributions to qualified retirement plans and most health insurance premiums are excluded.
The Social Security Wage Cap
The 6.2% Social Security tax only applies up to what’s called the contribution and benefit base. For 2026, that cap is $184,500. Every dollar you earn above it is free of Social Security withholding for the rest of the year.3Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base The cap adjusts each year based on national average wages, which is why it tends to climb.
The practical effect is that Social Security is a flat 6.2% up to the cap and 0% above it. Someone earning $184,500 pays the same Social Security tax as someone earning ten times that.
Medicare Has No Cap, and There’s an Extra 0.9% for High Earners
The 1.45% Medicare tax applies to every dollar of earned income. There is no wage limit. On top of that, once your wages pass a threshold set by your filing status, you owe an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on the excess. Your employer does not match this extra 0.9%; the full amount comes out of your pocket.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3101 – Rate of Tax
The thresholds are $200,000 for single filers, heads of household, and qualifying surviving spouses; $250,000 for married filing jointly; and $125,000 for married filing separately. Your employer starts withholding the extra 0.9% once your wages with that employer pass $200,000 for the year, regardless of your filing status. If you’re married filing jointly and your household income pushes you over $250,000, you reconcile any difference when you file your return.5Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
So Medicare taxation moves progressively as income rises, while Social Security stays effectively regressive because of the wage cap.
If You’re Self-Employed
When you work for yourself, you’re both employer and employee, so you pay both halves of FICA. That’s the full 15.3%: 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1401 – Rate of Tax You owe self-employment tax once your net self-employment earnings hit $400 for the year.7eCFR. 20 CFR Part 404 Subpart K – Employment, Wages, Self-Employment, and Self-Employment Income
The IRS softens the impact with a deduction. You can subtract the employer-equivalent half (50%) of your self-employment tax from your adjusted gross income when calculating your income tax. This lowers your income tax bill; it does not lower the self-employment tax itself.8Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes) The same $184,500 Social Security cap applies to your net earnings, and the Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% also applies once your net earnings exceed the filing-status thresholds above.
Quarterly Payments
Because no employer is withholding for you, you make quarterly estimated payments. For the 2026 tax year, those are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 509 (2026), Tax Calendars Missing a due date triggers an underpayment penalty based on the shortfall, the length of the delay, and the IRS’s quarterly interest rate for underpayments.10Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty
You avoid the penalty if your total payments cover at least 90% of your current-year tax liability or 100% of the tax shown on your prior-year return, whichever is less. If your adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000 the previous year ($75,000 if married filing separately), the prior-year safe harbor rises to 110%.10Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty First-year filers get tripped up most often here, because there is no prior-year baseline to fall back on.
What to Do If You Had Two Jobs and Paid Too Much
If you worked for two or more employers in the same year and your combined wages exceeded $184,500, you probably had too much Social Security tax withheld. Each employer withholds on its own, so neither one knows to stop at the cap. You claim the excess as a credit on your income tax return.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 608, Excess Social Security and RRTA Tax Withheld
On a joint return, each spouse calculates the excess separately. If a single employer withheld too much by mistake, you cannot claim a credit on your return; you have to ask that employer to correct it. If the employer refuses, you can file Form 843 with the IRS to request a refund directly.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 608, Excess Social Security and RRTA Tax Withheld
The Narrow Exemptions
Most workers pay FICA. A few narrow categories don’t:
- Students working for the school where they’re enrolled at least half-time, as long as the job is tied to their course of study and they aren’t treated as a professional employee with benefits like a retirement plan or paid leave.12Internal Revenue Service. Student FICA Exception
- Children under 18 employed by a parent’s sole proprietorship or a partnership where both partners are their parents. The exemption does not apply if the family business is a corporation.13Internal Revenue Service. Family Employees
- Members of certain recognized religious sects that oppose public insurance, who apply on Form 4029 and permanently waive future Social Security and Medicare benefits.14Internal Revenue Service. About Form 4029, Application for Exemption From Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits
State and local government workers may or may not be covered, depending on whether their employer signed a voluntary coverage agreement with the Social Security Administration.15Social Security Administration. Section 218 Agreements Federal employees hired after 1983 pay FICA.
What Your FICA Dollars Buy
Every dollar of FICA you pay earns credits toward future Social Security benefits. In 2026, one credit costs $1,890 in covered wages, and you can earn up to four credits per year.16Social Security Administration. Quarter of Coverage You need 40 credits, roughly ten years of work, to qualify for retirement benefits. Disability and survivor benefits require fewer credits, depending on your age when the qualifying event occurs.
Your eventual monthly benefit is calculated from your highest 35 years of earnings, adjusted for inflation. Years with no earnings count as zeros in that average. Additional years of strong earnings later in a career can replace those zeros and directly raise the monthly check.
The Medicare portion works differently. It funds Hospital Insurance, the part of Medicare that primarily covers people 65 and older and certain younger people with disabilities.17Social Security Administration. Understanding the Benefits Both programs run pay-as-you-go: the FICA collected from today’s workers pays today’s beneficiaries.