Social Security Payroll Tax for 2020
The employee's Social Security payroll tax rate for 2020 (January 1 through December 31, 2020) is 6.2% of the first $137,700 of wages, salaries, etc. An employee's 2020 earnings in excess of $137,700 are not subject to the Social Security tax.
Social Security Payroll Tax for 2021
The employee's Social Security payroll tax rate for 2021 (January 1 through December 31, 2021) is 6.2% of the first $142,800 of wages, salaries, etc. An employee's 2021 earnings in excess of $142,800 are not subject to the Social Security tax.
Social Security Payroll Tax is One Part of the FICA Payroll Tax
The Social Security payroll tax is one of the two components of the FICA payroll tax. The other component is the Medicare tax which applies to every dollar of an employee's earnings. In other words, there is no wage limit or cap for the Medicare tax. In fact, there is also an Additional Medicare Tax that applies to high income employees.
An Employer Must Match its Employees' FICA Taxes
In addition to the employees' Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, the employer must match the amounts that were withheld from the employees' paychecks (except that the employer does not match the Additional Medicare Tax).
