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FICA Tax Limit 2026: The Social Security Wage Base Is $184,500
The FICA tax limit for 2026 is the Social Security wage base: $184,500. Employers withhold 6.2% of wages up to that amount and match it, so each side pays at most $11,439. Medicare's 1.45% has no cap, and 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax is withheld above $200,000 with no employer match. BEG managed payroll applies both limits, from $25 per employee monthly.
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FICA is two taxes with two different limits. Social Security, the old-age, survivors and disability part, stops at the wage base. Medicare never stops. A third piece, Additional Medicare Tax, works the other way: it starts at a threshold instead of ending at one. Here is each for 2026, from IRS Publication 15 (2026) and the Social Security Administration.
| Tax | Employee | Employer | 2026 limit | 2026 maximum tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Security (OASDI) | 6.2% | 6.2% | First $184,500 of wages | $11,439 withheld plus $11,439 employer share ($22,878) |
| Medicare (HI) | 1.45% | 1.45% | No limit | No maximum |
| Additional Medicare Tax | 0.9%, withheld on wages above $200,000 | None (no employer match) | Starts above $200,000 paid by one employer | No maximum |
| Self-employment tax, for comparison | 12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare, paid by the owner | Not applicable | 12.4% part stops at $184,500 minus W-2 wages | $22,878 for the Social Security part |
The $184,500 figure is the Social Security Administration's contribution and benefit base, the same number that caps the earnings used to figure benefits. It is 4.8% higher than the $176,100 base for 2025.
How the cap plays out in a paycheck
Payroll software keeps a running total of Social Security wages for each employee. The check that crosses $184,500 is taxed only on the part below the line, and every check after it carries no Social Security tax for the rest of the calendar year. The employer's 6.2% stops on the same check. Medicare keeps running on every dollar.
An illustration with round numbers, not a client: an employee earns $240,000 a year, paid $20,000 a month, with no pre-tax deductions.
| Paycheck | Wages so far | Social Security wages on this check | Employee 6.2% | Employer 6.2% | Additional Medicare withheld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January to September (each) | $20,000 to $180,000 | $20,000 | $1,240 | $1,240 | $0 |
| October | $200,000 | $4,500 | $279 | $279 | $0 |
| November | $220,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $180 |
| December | $240,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $180 |
| Year total | $240,000 | $184,500 | $11,439 | $11,439 | $360 |
October is the crossing check: only $4,500 of it is below the base. From November the check carries no Social Security tax, $1,240 less than each of the first nine months, while $180 of Additional Medicare Tax starts. Medicare runs on all $240,000: $3,480 withheld and $3,480 paid by the employer.
The W-2 shows the cap directly. Box 3 (Social Security wages) holds $184,500 and box 4 holds $11,439, the 2026 maximums in the IRS W-2 instructions. Box 5 (Medicare wages) holds the full $240,000. Both the withheld and the matched amounts go into the same federal deposits as income tax withholding, on the monthly or semiweekly clock explained in our guide to the payroll tax deposit schedule.
What stops at $184,500 and what keeps going
Stops at the wage base
- The employee's 6.2% Social Security withholding
- The employer's matching 6.2%
- W-2 box 3 wages and box 4 tax, at $184,500 and $11,439
Keeps going
- Medicare at 1.45% for the employee and 1.45% for the employer
- 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax withholding once one employer's wages pass $200,000
- Federal income tax withholding, and state withholding where it applies
FUTA stopped long before: federal unemployment tax applies only to the first $7,000 of each employee's wages (Publication 15).
Reported tips count toward the cap: W-2 box 3 wages plus box 7 Social Security tips cannot exceed $184,500 (IRS W-2 instructions). Restaurants, bars and salons can take a credit for the employer FICA paid on tips above the minimum-wage floor, the FICA tip credit. On tips past the wage base it covers only the 1.45% Medicare share.
Additional Medicare Tax: a floor, not a ceiling
An employer must begin withholding the extra 0.9% in the pay period when the wages it pays an employee pass $200,000, and keep withholding through December. There is no employer match. The employer looks only at its own payroll: it ignores the employee's filing status, a spouse's wages and other jobs, and it cannot stop withholding because the employee asks (IRC 3102(f)).
The final tax is settled on the employee's return with Form 8959, where the threshold depends on filing status: $250,000 for a joint return, $125,000 for married filing separately and $200,000 for everyone else (IRC 3101(b)(2)). That gap cuts both ways. Two spouses earning $150,000 each owe $450 of Additional Medicare Tax on a joint return that neither employer withheld, and the IRS answer is estimated payments or extra withholding on Form W-4.
Two employers, or a job change mid-year
The wage base applies employer by employer. A new employer starts at zero, even if the employee already reached $184,500 somewhere else, and withholds and matches 6.2% until its own payments reach the base. Publication 505 (2026) puts it plainly: each employer “must withhold social security tax up to the annual limit.”
Illustration: an employee earns $110,000 at one company through June, then $100,000 at a new one. The first employer withholds $6,820 and the second $6,200, $13,020 in total and $1,581 more than the $11,439 maximum.
The employee gets that $1,581 back as a credit on the individual return. On the 2025 return the line is Schedule 3 (Form 1040), line 11, “Excess social security and tier 1 RRTA tax withheld,” and the 2025 instructions allow it for withholding above $10,918.20 when total wages top $176,100. For 2026 wages the trigger is withholding above $11,439, claimed on the matching line of the 2026 return (W-2 instructions). Spouses on a joint return figure it separately. Someone who expects the overlap can count the expected excess as withholding when figuring 2026 estimated tax (Publication 505).
Two limits apply. The credit works only when the extra came from different employers: if a single employer withheld past the cap, the employer has to adjust it, with Form 843 as the fallback (IRS Tax Topic 608). And neither employer gets its 6.2% back. Each owed its share on the wages it paid, up to the base.
When the count carries over: successor employers and common paymasters
The main exception to starting over is the successor employer rule in IRC 3121(a)(1). When a business acquires substantially all the property used in another employer's trade or business, or in a separate unit of it, and employs that employer's workers immediately after the acquisition, the wages the seller paid them earlier in the year count toward the buyer's $184,500.
The IRS example in Publication 15 (2026): a buyer takes over all the assets of a plumbing business early in 2026, and one employee had already earned $2,000 from the seller. The buyer applies Social Security tax only to the first $182,500 it pays that employee ($184,500 minus $2,000), counts the $2,000 toward the $200,000 Additional Medicare threshold, and owes Medicare tax on everything it pays. Publication 15 points buyers to Schedule D (Form 941) and Revenue Procedure 2004-53 for the reporting side.
Related companies have a second route. When two or more related corporations employ the same person at the same time and pay through a common paymaster that is one of them, they are treated as a single employer and pay no more Social Security tax in total than one employer would (Publication 15-A, IRC 3121(s)). Both rules only work if the payroll record carries the right year-to-date Social Security wages.
S corporation owner-employees
An S corporation owner who works in the business is paid a salary through payroll, with the same 6.2% and 1.45% on both sides and the same $184,500 cap. Distributions are not wages. The IRS describes them as non-wage distributions that are not subject to employment taxes, so they neither owe FICA nor count toward the base.
The cap does not change the salary rule. The IRS requires reasonable compensation for the owner's services before non-wage distributions are made, and it can reclassify distributions as wages. A salary above $184,500 stops adding Social Security tax, but Medicare runs on every dollar of it. Health insurance the company pays for a more-than-2% shareholder goes in box 1 of the W-2 but not in boxes 3 and 5 when it is paid under a plan for employees generally, so it uses none of the wage base. The salary-versus-distribution decision itself is covered in owner draw vs. salary.
Self-employment tax: the same cap, both halves paid by one person
Sole proprietors (including single-member LLC owners) and general partners pay self-employment tax instead of FICA: 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare, the employee and employer shares together (IRC 1401). Schedule SE first multiplies net profit by 92.35%, then applies the 12.4% only up to the wage base, so the Social Security part tops out at $22,878 for 2026. The 2.9% has no cap, and 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies above the same filing-status thresholds. Half of the self-employment tax, not counting that 0.9%, is deductible (IRC 164(f)).
W-2 wages use up the base first. IRC 1402(b) limits the earnings taxed at 12.4% to the wage base minus the wages paid in the year, and the 2025 Schedule SE does it on lines 7 through 10. Illustration: a person with a $150,000 salary and $80,000 of net self-employment earnings in 2026 owes the 12.4% on only $34,500 of those earnings ($184,500 minus $150,000), or $4,278, plus 2.9% Medicare on all $80,000, or $2,320. Self-employment tax is paid through estimated tax, and the 2026 and 2027 due dates are on our business tax calendar.
How payroll systems apply the cap, and where it goes wrong
- The count lives with the employer. When a company changes payroll providers mid-year, each employee's year-to-date Social Security wages have to move to the new system. If they do not, the count restarts at zero and withholding runs past $184,500. That is one employer over-withholding, so the employee cannot claim it on the return and the employer has to fix it.
- The base resets every January 1. The new figure has to be in the tax tables before the first check of the year. Wages count in the year they are paid, so a check paid on January 4, 2027 counts toward 2027 even if the work was done in December.
- Bonuses and commissions count. They are wages (IRC 3121(a)), so a year-end bonus is often the check that crosses the base.
- 401(k) deferrals do not delay the cap. Elective deferrals come out of box 1 wages but stay in box 3 Social Security wages.
Social Security wage base by year
The base changes each year with the national average wage index. The employer's maximum each year equals the employee maximum shown, since the 6.2% rate has applied to both sides in every year listed (SSA tax rate table).
| Year | Wage base | Change from prior year | Maximum employee Social Security tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $184,500 | +$8,400 | $11,439.00 |
| 2025 | $176,100 | +$7,500 | $10,918.20 |
| 2024 | $168,600 | +$8,400 | $10,453.20 |
| 2023 | $160,200 | +$13,200 | $9,932.40 |
| 2022 | $147,000 | +$4,200 | $9,114.00 |
| 2021 | $142,800 | +$5,100 | $8,853.60 |
| 2020 | $137,700 | +$4,800 | $8,537.40 |
| 2019 | $132,900 | +$4,500 | $8,239.80 |
| 2018 | $128,400 | +$1,200 | $7,960.80 |
| 2017 | $127,200 | +$8,700 | $7,886.40 |
When the 2027 wage base will be announced
The Social Security Administration sets the next year's base each October by formula and publishes it in the Federal Register in late October. The 2026 figure came out on October 24, 2025, in the same release as the cost-of-living adjustment. No 2027 number has been published yet, so any 2027 figure you see now is a projection. Payroll tables need the official number before the first January 2027 payroll.
BEG managed payroll tracks each employee against the Social Security wage base, applies Additional Medicare Tax withholding at the $200,000 threshold, and makes the combined deposits on your schedule, inside the standard per-employee price.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the FICA tax limit for 2026?
$184,500. That is the 2026 Social Security wage base set by the Social Security Administration. The 6.2% Social Security tax applies to each employee’s wages up to that amount, once for the employee and once for the employer. Medicare tax has no wage limit.
What is the maximum Social Security tax for 2026?
$11,439 withheld from an employee who earns $184,500 or more from one employer, plus another $11,439 paid by that employer, $22,878 in total. For a self-employed person, the Social Security part of self-employment tax tops out at the same $22,878 (12.4% of $184,500).
Is there a wage limit for Medicare tax?
No. The 1.45% employee and 1.45% employer Medicare tax applies to every dollar of wages, and SSA records show no limit on Medicare wages after 1993. On top of that, 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax is withheld from wages an employer pays above $200,000 in the year.
Does the employer stop paying its 6.2% when an employee reaches $184,500?
Yes, on the same paycheck. The employer’s Social Security tax applies to the same wages as the employee’s, so both stop once that employer has paid the employee $184,500 in the calendar year. The employer’s 1.45% Medicare tax keeps going.
I changed jobs in 2026. Do I get the extra Social Security tax back?
If wages from two or more employers add up to more than $184,500 and more than $11,439 was withheld in total, the excess comes back as a credit on your individual return. On the 2025 Form 1040 that credit goes on Schedule 3, line 11. The employers’ own 6.2% shares are not refunded.
What if one employer kept withholding after I passed $184,500?
That excess cannot be claimed on your return. The employer should adjust it and pay it back to you. If it does not, the IRS points to Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement, with copies of your W-2s attached (IRS Tax Topic 608).
Do 401(k) contributions count toward the Social Security wage base?
Yes. Elective deferrals to a 401(k) come out of taxable wages in box 1 of the W-2 but stay in box 3, Social Security wages, so they count toward the $184,500 like the rest of the paycheck.
Does a company that buys a business restart the wage base for the seller’s employees?
Not when the successor rule applies. If the buyer acquires substantially all the property used in the seller’s trade or business, or a separate unit of it, and keeps the seller’s employees on immediately after, the wages the seller paid them earlier that year count toward the buyer’s $184,500 (IRC 3121(a)(1)).
How does the wage base work for an S corporation owner?
Salary paid through payroll is subject to FICA up to $184,500, like any employee’s wages. Distributions are not wages and do not count toward the base. The IRS requires reasonable compensation for the owner’s services before non-wage distributions and can reclassify distributions as wages.
How is the cap applied to self-employment tax?
The 12.4% Social Security part applies to net self-employment earnings up to $184,500 minus the W-2 Social Security wages you had that year. The 2.9% Medicare part has no cap. Schedule SE works it out on lines 7 through 10.
When does Additional Medicare Tax withholding start?
In the pay period when one employer’s wages to an employee pass $200,000, and it continues through December. There is no employer match, and the employer cannot stop because the employee asks. The final tax is figured on Form 8959, using $250,000 for a joint return, $125,000 for married filing separately and $200,000 for everyone else.
When will the 2027 Social Security wage base be announced?
SSA sets the next year’s base each October by formula and publishes it in the Federal Register in late October. The 2026 figure was announced on October 24, 2025. No 2027 figure has been published yet, and it depends on the national average wage index.
Does a paycheck dated in January count toward the new year’s wage base?
Yes. The wage base counts wages paid during the calendar year, so a check paid on January 4, 2027 counts toward the 2027 base even if the work was done in December 2026.
Related Resources
Anthony leads payroll solutions at Business Executive Group, a national managed payroll firm serving businesses across industries. BEG manages payroll at $25 to $45 PEPM, all-inclusive, with deep expertise in compliance, multi-state filing, and industry-specific payroll requirements. Get instant pricing at beghr.com.
Sources: Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base; Social Security Administration, 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment Fact Sheet; Social Security Administration, news release of October 24, 2025; Social Security Administration, Automatic Increases; Social Security Administration, Social Security and Medicare Tax Rates; IRS Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide; IRS Publication 15-A (2026), Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide; IRS, General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (2026); IRS Tax Topic 608, Excess Social Security and RRTA Tax Withheld; IRS, 2025 Instructions for Form 1040, Schedule 3, line 11; IRS, Schedule 3 (Form 1040) 2025; IRS Publication 505 (2026), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax; IRS, Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax; IRS, S Corporation Compensation and Medical Insurance Issues; IRS, Schedule SE (Form 1040) 2025; 26 U.S.C. 3101, tax on employees; 26 U.S.C. 3102, deduction of tax from wages; 26 U.S.C. 3121, definitions (wages, successor employer, common paymaster); 26 U.S.C. 1401, rate of self-employment tax; 26 U.S.C. 1402, self-employment income; 26 U.S.C. 164(f), deduction for one-half of self-employment tax. Figures checked September 25, 2026. This is general information, not tax advice for your situation. Tax services are provided by licensed tax professionals under a separate engagement agreement. BEG does not provide tax advice.
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