Am I being double taxed on Medicare and Social Security? (Need help understanding my paycheck)
So I've been looking at my pay stubs more carefully lately and I'm really confused. I think I might be getting double taxed on Medicare and Social Security? There are these deductions in two different places on my paystub and the amounts seem high compared to what I used to pay at my previous job. I work for a small company now (about 30 employees) and started about 3 months ago. I'm making around $48,500 a year. I've attached a picture of my paycheck but sorry for the glare - my phone camera isn't great. Can someone help me figure out if this is normal or if my employer is taking out too much? I don't want to approach my boss if this is actually correct, but I also don't want to keep paying extra if I shouldn't be!
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Leila Haddad
Based on your description, it's unlikely you're being double-taxed, but I can understand your concern. What you're probably seeing is the separate listing of employee and employer portions of FICA taxes (Medicare and Social Security). For Social Security, employees pay 6.2% and employers match that with another 6.2%. For Medicare, employees pay 1.45% and employers also pay 1.45%. Sometimes paystubs will show both portions, even though only the employee portion is actually being deducted from your wages. The employer portion is an additional cost to your employer, not deducted from your pay. Look closely at the "net pay" calculation on your stub. If it's only subtracting the employee portions (6.2% for SS and 1.45% for Medicare), then you're not being double-taxed. If you're seeing deductions that total approximately 15.3% of your gross pay for these taxes, then there might be an issue worth discussing with payroll.
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Emma Johnson
•But what if the paycheck shows TWO separate lines both labeled as "Social Security" and TWO separate lines both labeled as "Medicare"? That's what mine has and I've always wondered if that's right or not. One set has a higher amount than the other.
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Leila Haddad
•If you see two separate lines for each tax, they might be showing you both the employee and employer portions for transparency. Check if one set is actually being subtracted from your gross pay to calculate your net pay, while the other set is just shown for informational purposes. Sometimes companies also split these if you work in multiple departments or positions within the same company. For example, if you earn wages and tips or if you have regular pay plus overtime/bonus pay, they might calculate and display the FICA taxes separately for each type of compensation.
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Ravi Patel
I went through something similar last year and found a tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that really helped me figure out my paycheck issues. I was confused about some weird deductions and uploaded my paystub to their system. They have this AI that breaks down all the tax components and explains exactly what you're paying and why. The tool confirmed I wasn't being double-taxed but helped me understand how my company was displaying both the employee and employer contributions on my paystub (which sounds similar to your situation). It also helped me identify that I was having too much federal tax withheld which I was able to fix by submitting a new W-4 to my employer.
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Astrid Bergström
•How exactly does this work? Do I have to give them my personal info? Kinda nervous about uploading my paystub with all my details to some random website.
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PixelPrincess
•Is it actually accurate? I've tried a couple of paycheck calculators before and they were way off because they didn't account for my health insurance premiums and retirement contributions properly.
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Ravi Patel
•You can actually blur out or black out your personal information before uploading - they just need to see the tax calculations and deduction categories to analyze them. Their privacy policy is pretty solid too, and they don't store your documents after analysis. The accuracy has been spot-on in my experience. It handled all my pre-tax deductions correctly, including health insurance and 401k contributions. It's much more comprehensive than basic paycheck calculators since it's specifically designed to analyze actual paystubs rather than just estimate from basic inputs.
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Astrid Bergström
Just wanted to update - I gave taxr.ai a try after my initial hesitation and it was actually super helpful! I uploaded my paystub (with my name and address blacked out) and it confirmed I wasn't being double-taxed. Turns out my company shows both the employee and employer portions of FICA taxes on the stub, but only the employee portion actually gets deducted from my pay. The analysis even pointed out that I might be withholding too much for federal taxes based on my expected annual income. I'm going to update my W-4 now - might get an extra $130 per paycheck!
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Omar Farouk
If you're still having trouble understanding your paycheck or need to talk to someone at the IRS about tax withholding, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent HOURS trying to get through to the IRS last year about a similar payroll tax issue and kept getting disconnected or waiting forever. With Claimyr, I got through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. They basically call the IRS for you and when they get a human on the line, they connect you. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows exactly how it works. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed my employer was calculating everything correctly but explained exactly how to adjust my withholding to better match my tax situation.
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Chloe Martin
•How does this even work? The IRS phone system is notoriously impossible to navigate. Do they just use some special phone number that regular people don't have access to?
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PixelPrincess
•Yeah right. No way this actually works. I've tried calling the IRS like 20 times this year and either get a "due to high call volume" message or sit on hold for 3+ hours before giving up. If this service actually worked it would be all over the news.
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Omar Farouk
•They use a combination of smart dialing systems that navigate the IRS phone menus automatically and constantly redial when the system is busy. Nothing sketchy - they just have technology that keeps trying different paths through the phone system until they get a human, so you don't have to waste your time doing it. The reason it's not "all over the news" is because the service is relatively new and they can only handle a certain volume of calls per day. But it absolutely works - many posts on this subreddit from people who've used it successfully. It saved me an entire day of frustration and I got my issue resolved in a single call.
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PixelPrincess
Ok I have to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment yesterday I decided to try Claimyr just to prove it wouldn't work. I scheduled a call for this morning fully expecting to waste my money. Instead, I got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent confirmed I wasn't being double-taxed on Medicare and Social Security - apparently it's common for employers to display both parts on the paystub but only the employee portion (7.65% total) should actually be coming out of your pay. The agent also helped me figure out why my tax withholding seemed high and suggested specific changes to my W-4. I'm still kind of shocked this actually worked after spending countless hours trying to get through on my own.
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Diego Fernández
Could also be that ur paying catchup if ur previous employer wasn't taking out enuff. Happened to me once and they had to take extra for like 2 months to make up for the shortfall. Worth asking HR about it.
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Eduardo Silva
•Thank you for the suggestion - I hadn't considered that! I was at my previous job for 5 years and this new company did mention something about adjustments when I first started but I didn't really understand what they meant. Do you know if this is something that would eventually balance out or should I expect this to continue?
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Diego Fernández
•It should definitely balance out. For me it was just for a couple months until they collected whatever was missing. After that my paychecks went back to normal. Just talk to HR and ask them to explain exactly what's happening - they should be able to print out a detailed breakdown for you. The good news is that even if they're collecting extra now, you won't end up paying more than your fair share for the year. The system is designed to correct itself so you pay exactly what you owe, no more.
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Anastasia Kuznetsov
Check if maybe you're over the Social Security wage base for the year? For 2024 you only pay SS tax on the first $168,600 of income. If you made more than that at your previous job this year, then switched companies, your new employer might not know you already hit the cap.
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Eduardo Silva
•Definitely not over the wage base! I wish lol. I'm making $48,500 annually at this job and made about $41,000 at my previous position this year before switching. So that's not the issue, but thanks for the suggestion.
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Sean Fitzgerald
•This is actually really good to know. I'm switching jobs next month and will be over that threshold for the year when combining both jobs. Do I just wait until I file my taxes to get back the excess SS tax, or is there a way to tell my new employer not to withhold it?
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