Social Security Tax Limit 2027 (and the Max Social Security Tax for 2026)

Social Security tax is 6.2% of wages, up to a yearly cap. SSA calls the cap the contribution and benefit base, and says it is also commonly referred to as the taxable maximum. The math is the base times 6.2%:

• 2027: 6.2% × $192,300 = $11,922.60 for the employee, and the same again from the employer.
• 2026: 6.2% × $184,500 = $11,439.00 for the employee.

“Thus, an individual with wages equal to or larger than $192,300 would contribute $11,922.60 to the OASDI program in 2027, and his or her employer would contribute the same amount.”

“The social security wage base limit is $184,500.”

Wage bases from SSA's contribution and benefit base table. The maximum taxes are our arithmetic (6.2% and 12.4% of the base). The 2027 base is also in SSA's 2027 COLA fact sheet figures.

At the paycheck where your year-to-date wages reach the wage base. The employer stops withholding the employee 6.2% from then until the end of the calendar year (IRS Publication 15 tells employers to stop collecting it when wages reach the base), and your pay stub shows the Social Security line dropping to zero.

Example: a $250,000 salary paid every two weeks is $9,615.38 a paycheck. The 2027 base of $192,300 is reached on paycheck 20 of 26, where only $595.68 is withheld, and the last 6 paychecks carry no Social Security tax. The calculator above finds the paycheck for weekly, every-two-weeks, twice-a-month and monthly pay.

The base applies to each employer separately. A new employer starts counting from zero, which is why two jobs can lead to too much withholding (see below).

“The OASDI tax rate for self-employment income in 2027 is 12.4 percent.”

Self-employed people pay both halves. The base is shared with any wages you earned: on Schedule SE, line 7 is the maximum amount of combined wages and self-employment earnings, line 8d is your wages, line 9 subtracts them from the maximum, and line 10 multiplies the smaller of line 6 or line 9 by 12.4%. Line 11 multiplies line 6 by 2.9% for Medicare, and line 12 adds lines 10 and 11. Those are the 2025 Schedule SE lines (2026 forms are not yet released).

“Generally, the amount subject to self-employment tax is 92.35% of your net earnings from self-employment.”

Example, 2027: $100,000.00 of net profit becomes $92,350.00 after the 92.35% factor, taxed at 12.4% for $11,451.40 of Social Security tax. With $150,000.00 of W-2 wages, only $42,300.00 of room is left under the base, so the Social Security part is $5,245.20. The calculator is an estimate: it leaves out the optional methods, church employee income and the deduction for half of the tax.

“There's no wage base limit for Medicare tax.”

Employees pay 1.45% Medicare tax on every dollar of wages (the employer matches it). On top of that, the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies to wages above a threshold that depends on filing status. There is no employer match for it. The Form 8959 instructions say the thresholds are not indexed for inflation.

“Your employer must withhold Additional Medicare Tax on wages it pays to you in excess of $200,000 for the calendar year, regardless of your filing status and regardless of wages or compensation paid by another employer.”

So a married couple with wages of $150,000 and $175,000 has nothing withheld, yet owes the 0.9% on the $75,000 by which their combined $325,000 passes the $250,000 joint threshold. A single filer with one $220,000 job has it withheld on the $20,000 above $200,000. Any difference is settled on Form 8959 with your return.

Each employer withholds Social Security tax on your wages up to the base, and none of them can see the others. If your combined wages are above the base, you paid more than the maximum. The statute applies the base to remuneration paid "by an employer", which is why this happens (26 U.S.C. 3121(a)(1)).

“You can take a credit on this line for the amount withheld in excess of $10,918.20. But if any one employer withheld more than $10,918.20, you can’t claim the excess on your return.”

That is line 11 of the 2025 Schedule 3 (Form 1040), Part II, which flows to your payments on Form 1040. The quoted figures are the 2025 return instructions; the 2026 instructions are not out yet and will use the 2026 limit. Example for 2027: wages of $120,000 and $100,000 from two employers lead to $13,640.00 withheld against $11,922.60 owed, so $1,717.40 is the credit.

“If any one employer withheld too much Social Security, tier 1 RRTA tax, or tier 2 RRTA tax, you generally can't claim the excess as a credit against your income tax. Your employer should adjust the excess for you.”

If the employer does not fix it, IRS Topic 608 says you can use Form 843 to claim a refund and attach copies of your Forms W-2.

Employees covered by FERS pay into Social Security as part of the plan. OPM puts it this way:

“The Basic Benefit and Social Security parts of FERS require you to pay your share each pay period.”

That is the Social Security part of FERS, separate from the FERS basic benefit contribution. For the rest of the picture, use the FERS retirement calculator.

The limit is about taxes on earnings. Once you collect benefits, up to 85% of them can be taxable on your federal return; the taxable Social Security benefits calculator shows how much. The same wage base also caps the earnings SSA counts toward your benefit, and the other 2027 changes (COLA, earnings test, SSI) are in the Social Security COLA 2027 guide.