The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) requires that your employer deduc
ID: 3117409 • Letter: T
Question
The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) requires that your employer deduct a total of
7.65 percent from your paycheck for Social Security and Medicare tax purposes. A Social Security
rate of 6.2 percent is deducted on the first $90,000 you earn. A Medicare rate of 1.45 percent is
deducted from all your earnings. In addition, your employer is required to pay an amount equal
to your contribution.
A real estate agent has earned $92,000. He earned $2,500 this month. How much is deducted
this month for Social Security? For Medicare?
Explanation / Answer
It is not clear from the question whether earnings given are post tax deductions or raw earnings without any taxation.
Case 1: Considering that these earnings are post tax deduction.
Employee's total earning before this month = $92000 - $2500 = $89500
Since $89500 is after paying relevant taxes, actual earning would be much higher than $90000, even if we consider only Medicare tax of 1.45%.
If (100 - 1.45)% or 98.55% is 89500, 100% would be (89500/0.9855) = nearly 90816.84 .
Point is that only Medicare tax of 1.45% would have been deducted from current month's earning, and no Social Security tax.
If 98.55% is $2500, then 1.45% would be around $36.78 .
So,
Social Security tax deducted current month = $0
Medicare tax deducted current month = $36.78
Case 2: Considering that the given earnings are raw amount without any taxation.
Total earnings = $92000
Current month's earning = $2500
Earnings prior to this month = $90000 - $2500 = $89500
Since Social Security rate of 6.2% is deducted on first $90000 earning, only ($90000 - $89500 = $500) will be taxed at 6.2% current month.
Hence,
Social Security tax deducted current month = $500 * 6.2% = $31
Medicare tax deducted current month = $2500 * 1.45% = $36.25
Related Questions
drjack9650@gmail.com
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.