What is OASDI tax on my paycheck? The 6.2% Social Security tax

OASDI on your paycheck is the Social Security tax: 6.2% of your wages

OASDI tax is the Social Security tax taken from your paycheck: 6.2% of your wages, up to $184,500 of wages in 2026. OASDI stands for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, the Social Security Administration's name for the program that pays retirement, survivor and disability benefits. According to the SSA, the rate is "set by statute at 6.2 percent for employees and employers, each".

Paystubs label it in different ways. You may see OASDI, Social Security, SS tax, FICA-OASDI or OASDI EE, where EE means the employee's share. A line marked OASDI ER is your employer's matching 6.2%, shown for information; it is not taken from your pay.

OASDI is mandatory for most employees, and you cannot opt out by changing your Form W-4, which controls only federal income tax. To see the OASDI, Medicare and income tax lines for your own salary, use the US paycheck calculator.

OASDI, Medicare and self-employment rates for 2026

OASDI is 6.2% for the employee and 6.2% for the employer, 12.4% in total, while Medicare is 1.45% each, 2.9% in total. According to IRS Topic 751, "only the Social Security tax has a wage base limit"; Medicare applies to every dollar of covered wages.

HI stands for Hospital Insurance, the SSA's name for the Medicare tax, which is why some paystubs show "OASDI" and "HI" as two lines.

The Additional Medicare Tax is 0.9% on wages above $200,000 for single filers and heads of household, $250,000 for married couples filing jointly and $125,000 for married filing separately, according to IRS Topic 560. Your employer must start withholding it once your wages from that employer pass $200,000 in a calendar year, "without regard to filing status", and there is no employer match. Any difference from your real threshold is settled on your tax return.

The OASDI wage base: $184,500 in 2026 and $176,100 in 2025

The OASDI wage base, also called the taxable maximum or Social Security wage limit, is $184,500 for 2026. According to the SSA, someone with wages of $184,500 or more contributes $11,439.00 in 2026, and their employer pays the same. Wages above the limit carry no OASDI tax, though Medicare still applies.

The limit rises most years because the SSA ties it to the national average wage index. The 2027 wage base had not been published on the SSA's table when it was checked on September 28, 2026. The IRS instructions for Forms W-2 confirm the 2026 cap from the other side: Box 4, Social Security tax withheld, "should not exceed $11,439" for one employer.

When OASDI stops: worked examples for $60,000 and $200,000 salaries

OASDI stops for the rest of the calendar year on the paycheck that takes your wages from one employer past $184,500. On a $60,000 salary it never stops, because the salary is below the wage base. On a $200,000 salary paid biweekly, it stops part way through the 24th paycheck.

These examples assume a biweekly schedule with the first payday on Friday, January 2, 2026 (26 paydays in 2026), no pre-tax health deductions, and a traditional 401(k) if any, because 401(k) deferrals are still subject to Social Security and Medicare according to IRS Publication 15. The per-paycheck gross comes from the site's US paycheck engine; the paycheck-by-paycheck cap is applied to the engine's $184,500 wage base.

For the $200,000 earner, 23 paychecks bring year-to-date wages to $176,923.08, which leaves $7,576.92 of the 24th paycheck under the cap. OASDI on that paycheck is $469.77, and total OASDI for the year reaches exactly $11,439. The December 4 and December 18 paychecks are $476.92 bigger as a result. Medicare of $111.54 a paycheck continues all year, and because the salary is exactly $200,000, no Additional Medicare Tax is withheld.

A higher salary hits the cap sooner. At $250,000, OASDI stops after the 20th paycheck on September 25, 2026, and the Additional Medicare Tax starts on the 21st, on October 9, once wages pass $200,000.

The US paycheck calculator shows the year's OASDI spread evenly: $439.96 a paycheck for $200,000, which is $11,439 divided by 26. Your real paystub will show $476.92 until November and then nothing, and the annual total is the same. Pay dates for other schedules are in our guide to how many paychecks there are in a year.

OASDI and FICA are not the same thing, and neither is federal withholding

OASDI is one part of FICA. FICA, the Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax, is OASDI (6.2%) plus Medicare (1.45%), 7.65% of wages for the employee below the wage base. "Is OASDI the same as Social Security" has a simple answer: yes, OASDI is the Social Security tax.

OASDI is not federal income tax withholding. Your Form W-2 shows them in different boxes: Box 2 for federal income tax withheld, Box 4 for Social Security tax withheld and Box 6 for Medicare tax withheld. OASDI does not count toward the federal withholding that pays your income tax bill, so a large OASDI line does not raise your refund. The one exception is excess OASDI from two or more employers, which your return credits back, as the next section explains.

How your federal income tax withholding is worked out, and how to change it, is covered in our guide to federal withholding.

Two jobs over $184,500: claim excess OASDI back on your Form 1040

If you had two or more employers and your combined wages passed the wage base, you can claim the excess OASDI back as a credit on your federal return. According to IRS Topic 608, you may be able to claim the excess "as a credit against your income tax" when your total wages were over the wage base for the year.

This happens because each employer applies the $184,500 limit only to the wages it pays you, so two employers can each withhold up to $11,439.

Worked example. In 2026 you earn $120,000 at job A and $80,000 at job B. Job A withholds $7,440 of OASDI (6.2% of $120,000) and job B withholds $4,960. That is $12,400 in total, against a 2026 maximum of $11,439, so $961 is excess. You claim the $961 on Schedule 3 of your 2026 Form 1040, filed in 2027; on the 2025 Schedule 3 it is line 11, "Excess social security and tier 1 RRTA tax withheld". It reduces your tax bill or increases your refund.

If a single employer took more than $11,439, the credit route does not apply. Topic 608 says the employer should correct it, and if it does not, you can claim a refund on Form 843.

Self-employed people pay the full 12.4% OASDI through self-employment tax

Self-employed people pay OASDI at 12.4%, both halves, as part of the 15.3% self-employment tax. According to IRS Topic 554, the tax applies once net earnings from self-employment reach $400, it is charged on 92.35% of net earnings, and you can deduct half of it when working out adjusted gross income.

Worked example. A sole proprietor with $60,000 of profit in 2026 has net earnings of $55,410 (92.35%). According to the site's self-employed tax engine, OASDI at 12.4% is $6,870.84 and Medicare at 2.9% is $1,606.89, a self-employment tax of $8,477.73. Half of it, $4,238.87, is deducted from income. Try your own figures in the self-employed tax calculator.

If you also have a job, your W-2 wages use up the wage base first. Someone with $150,000 of wages in 2026 pays self-employment OASDI only on the next $34,500 of net earnings; Medicare applies to all of it.

Who is exempt from OASDI: government workers, students and a few others

Most employees must pay OASDI, but some groups are exempt under federal law. Each exemption below has conditions, and your employer decides whether it applies to your job.

• Some state and local government employees. According to the IRS, mandatory Social Security coverage has applied since July 2, 1991 to state and local government employees who are not members of a qualifying public retirement system and not covered by a Section 218 agreement. Members of a qualifying public retirement system outside a Section 218 agreement may pay no OASDI. Most employees hired after March 31, 1986 still pay Medicare.
• Students working for their own school. The IRS says FICA does not apply to students employed by the school, college or university where they are pursuing a course of study, where education rather than employment is the main relationship.
• Foreign students on F-1, J-1 or M-1 visas. According to the IRS, those in the US for fewer than 5 calendar years are generally nonresident aliens and exempt on work allowed by their visa.
• Members of certain religious groups. Members of recognized religious groups apply for exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes on IRS Form 4029, which waives the related benefits.
• Children under 18 working for a parent. According to the IRS, a child under 18 paid by a parent's sole proprietorship, or a partnership where each partner is a parent, pays no Social Security or Medicare tax.

State disability and paid leave deductions are different: they are state payroll taxes, not OASDI. California's version is explained in our guide to SDI on your paycheck.

Why your OASDI deduction changes or disappears

OASDI on a paycheck changes when the wages on that paycheck change, because it is a flat 6.2% of each payment. The common causes are these:

• A raise, overtime or a bonus. A bonus is wages, so 6.2% of it goes to OASDI until you reach the wage base.
• You reached the wage base. If OASDI vanished from your paystub late in the year, check your year-to-date Social Security wages. At $184,500 from one employer, withholding stops until January 1.
• A new tax year. OASDI restarts in January, often with a slightly different base, so high earners see their net pay fall on the first paycheck of the year.
• A new job. A new employer starts counting from $0, even if your old employer already took the maximum.

If OASDI is missing from every paycheck and none of the exemptions above apply to you, ask your payroll department why before the year ends. Next, check a recent paystub against the US paycheck calculator: if the OASDI line is not 6.2% of your Social Security wages, raise it with payroll before the year ends.