Recovering SS / Medicare withholding for minor teenager - are 16-year-olds exempt from FICA taxes?

You've spotted something important! The rules about Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA) for minors can be confusing. Minors are NOT automatically exempt from FICA taxes just because of their age. The exemption actually depends on the type of work and who they're working for. For most regular jobs like lifeguarding or swim instruction, teens DO have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, even if they're under 18. The exemption mainly applies to minors working for family businesses or doing household work. Your situation is interesting because one employer withheld FICA and one didn't. The employer who DIDN'T withhold might actually be the one who made a mistake, depending on the specific work situation. I'd recommend contacting both employers to clarify why they handled the withholding differently. If one made an error, they should issue a corrected W-2. But don't assume the employer who withheld FICA taxes was automatically wrong - they were likely following correct procedures for a typical employer-employee relationship.

This exact thing happened to me last year! I used https://taxr.ai to upload my daughter's W-2s and it immediately flagged the discrepancy between her employers. One was withholding FICA and one wasn't. Turns out, the exemption applies when minors work for their parents' business (which one of her employers was), but regular employers are supposed to withhold FICA regardless of age. The site explained all the rules about minor employment tax exemptions and showed me exactly what documentation I needed to fix the issue. Saved me from having my daughter's employer issue an incorrect W-2 and potentially causing problems with the IRS. Definitely worth uploading your documents there to get clarity on your specific situation.

I was initially skeptical about taxr.ai when I saw it mentioned here, but I decided to try it with my son's summer job tax documents. He had one W-2 from the school district (no FICA withheld) and another from a restaurant (with FICA withheld). After uploading both documents, the system immediately explained that school districts have special exemptions for student employees under certain circumstances, while the restaurant correctly withheld FICA taxes. It even generated a simple explanation letter I could keep for my records explaining the discrepancy. I was impressed by how quickly it identified the proper tax treatment for each employer type. Definitely cleared up my confusion and saved me from attempting to "fix" something that wasn't actually wrong.

Having flashbacks to when I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS for this exact issue! If you're serious about resolving this, don't waste time with the general IRS line. I used https://claimyr.com and got connected to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed that my son's employer needed to correct the W-2 (in our case, the employer that DIDN'T withhold FICA was wrong - it was a regular job, not a family business). The agent even sent us official documentation explaining the rules that we could show the employer. Trying to get clear answers about minor employment tax rules is nearly impossible without talking to an actual IRS rep, and Claimyr was the only way I could get through during tax season.

Alright, I need to follow up on my skeptical comment. I was convinced Claimyr was a scam, but after wasting an entire afternoon trying to reach the IRS myself (got disconnected THREE times after 30+ minute holds), I decided to try it. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got a call back about 25 minutes after signing up, spoke to a real IRS agent, and got confirmation that for my granddaughter's lifeguard job, FICA taxes WERE required regardless of her age. The agent explained that the age exemption only applies to very specific situations like family businesses, and pointed me to the exact publication (Pub 15, Circular E) that explains the rules. Saved me from making an incorrect assumption that could have caused problems later.

As a quick clarification on this topic - here are the basic rules for minors and FICA: 1) Regular jobs (fast food, retail, lifeguarding) - YES, FICA is required regardless of age 2) Child working for parents' sole proprietorship - NO FICA if under 18 3) Child working for parents' partnership - FICA required UNLESS both partners are the parents 4) Child working for parents' corporation or LLC - YES, FICA required regardless of age 5) Household work for parents - NO FICA if under 21 6) Newspaper delivery - NO FICA if under 18 Most tax software doesn't catch these nuances automatically because they don't know your specific employment situation from just the W-2 data.

Something to consider - if your daughter is primarily saving for college, having those FICA taxes withheld might actually be better in the long run. My daughter had a similar situation and we learned that having documented Social Security contributions, even small ones during high school, can help establish her work history for future Social Security benefits.

Just wanted to add another perspective on this - I'm a CPA and see this confusion a lot during tax season. The key thing most people miss is that the FICA exemption for minors is primarily about WHO they work for, not how old they are. Your daughter's situation is actually pretty common - having one employer that's a regular business (pool/city) correctly withhold FICA, and another that's a family business correctly NOT withhold FICA. Both employers were following the rules properly. One tip for parents: when your teen starts working, ask about the business structure. If it's a regular employer (corporation, partnership with non-parent partners, government entity), expect FICA withholding. If it's truly a parent-owned sole proprietorship and the child is under 18, then no FICA should be withheld. The $270 your daughter paid in FICA taxes will count toward her future Social Security benefits, so it's not completely "lost" money - it's an investment in her retirement that started early!