2026 tax year · Sources checked October 23, 2026

Payroll tax calculator

Five employees with $50,000 each in annual Social Security and Medicare taxable wages produce an employer FICA subtotal of $19,125: 5 × [min($50,000, $184,500) × 6.2% + $50,000 × 1.45%]. Change the example below to calculate your own employer subtotal. FUTA, state and local taxes remain pending; this is not a take-home-pay calculator.

Employer tax estimate · 2026

Employer FICA subtotal — excludes FUTA, state and local taxes

$19,125.00

Employer component	Annual subtotal
Social Security	5 × $50,000 × 6.2% = $15,500
Medicare	5 × $50,000 × 1.45% = $3,625
FUTA, state and local taxes	Pending confirmation

Enter annual taxable wages by employee

Use one group for employees with identical taxable wages. If wages differ, add separate groups, or use a headcount of one per employee. Do not use average company pay when some employees exceed the Social Security cap.

Equal-wage groupPeople with these same wagesWhere to copy: count employees whose taxable wages match both amounts below. Five is an illustrative default.Annual Social Security taxable wages per person ($)Where to copy: your payroll taxable-wage register or planned annual Social Security wages before the cap. This is not automatically gross salary.Annual Medicare taxable wages per person ($)Where to copy: annual Medicare taxable wages from your register or budget. Do not assume this wage base always equals the Social Security base.

Download numbers, formulas & confirmation checklist (CSV)

The formula behind the result

For each person: employer Social Security = min(annual Social Security taxable wages, $184,500) × 0.062. Employer Medicare = annual Medicare taxable wages × 0.0145. Add the per-person components across groups. A group multiplication is valid only when every member has the same taxable wage bases. Explicit zero wages are allowed; blank wages prevent a complete subtotal.

Why equal total wages can produce unequal tax

Illustrative allocation	Same total wages	Employer Social Security	Employer Medicare	Employer FICA subtotal
5 people × $50,000	$250,000	5 × $50,000 × 6.2% = $15,500	$250,000 × 1.45% = $3,625	$19,125
1 person × $250,000	$250,000	$184,500 × 6.2% = $11,439	$250,000 × 1.45% = $3,625	$15,064

Both examples assume ordinary covered employee wages and equal Social Security and Medicare wage bases before the cap. The difference is $19,125 − $15,064 = $4,061, entirely from applying the individual Social Security cap. A single company-wide percentage misses that distinction.

Items to confirm before using the full budget

Employee coverage, tax year, benefit treatment and the actual taxable wage bases.
FUTA applicability, wage base, credits and any credit-reduction adjustment.
Your state unemployment agency's assigned employer rate and taxable wage base.
Local employer taxes, assessments and other employer-funded contributions.
Special cases, including successor-employer wage treatment. This annual planner does not compute remaining wage caps for a current payroll or tax-deposit deadlines.

Employee withholding stays separate from employer expense. The calculator does not add an employer match for Additional Medicare withholding. Do not treat unknown state taxes as zero, or use this subtotal as a complete filing calculation.

Official rates and scope

The 6.2% employer Social Security and 1.45% employer Medicare rates are from the IRS official Social Security and Medicare rate guide. The 2026 $184,500 individual Social Security limit is verified against the SSA official taxable-earnings limit. Both checked October 23, 2026. Medicare has no wage cap. All example wages and group sizes are illustrative inputs; displayed amounts are our calculations, not a real employer's tax records.

For the wider budgeting method and conditional FUTA example, read estimating payroll taxes. Keep software charges separate using the homepage payroll cost calculator; that calculator handles the provider's quote and internal transition costs, not payroll taxes.