Why did my FED OASDI/EE and FED MED/EE taxes disappear from my paycheck after changing withholding?

This definitely doesn't sound right. FED OASDI/EE (Social Security) and FED MED/EE (Medicare) are separate from your federal income tax withholding. When you increased your withholding, you were likely only adjusting your federal income tax, not these payroll taxes. For 2025, employees should be paying 6.2% of wages for Social Security (up to the wage base limit) and 1.45% for Medicare (no wage limit). These are mandatory payroll taxes that should be showing up on every paycheck - you can't adjust these by changing your W-4. I'd recommend taking your paystub to your HR or payroll department ASAP. There might be a system error or some other issue that needs to be fixed. Not having these taxes withheld could potentially cause problems later.

I had a similar issue last year and discovered that using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) helped me figure out what was going on with my weird paycheck deductions. I uploaded my paystubs to the system and it actually highlighted the missing FICA taxes right away. The tool basically analyzes all your tax documents and explains everything in simple terms. In my case, it turned out my employer had accidentally miscategorized me as an independent contractor instead of an employee after a payroll system update. Once I had the clear explanation from taxr.ai, I was able to take that info to HR and get it fixed before it caused bigger problems at tax time.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after seeing this thread and it was actually really helpful! I uploaded my last three paystubs and it immediately pointed out that my employer had been using the wrong state tax rate (I moved recently). The analysis showed exactly what should have been withheld vs what was actually taken out. The explanation was super clear and I was able to take screenshots directly to my payroll department. They fixed it right away and even adjusted my next check to make up for the difference. Saved me from having a surprise tax bill next year!

If you need to contact the IRS about this issue (which you might if your employer doesn't fix it), use Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I wasted DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about a similar payroll tax problem last year. Their hold times are insane. With Claimyr, I got a callback from the IRS in about 45 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed that FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare) should be withheld from every paycheck for employees. They explained that if these taxes aren't being properly withheld, both you and your employer could face issues later. The agent walked me through exactly what information I needed to gather from my employer to resolve the situation.

I take back what I said about Claimyr. After struggling for THREE WEEKS trying to reach someone at the IRS about my employer's payroll tax mistake, I gave in and tried the service. Got a call back from an actual IRS agent in about an hour. The agent confirmed that my employer had classified me incorrectly in their system which is why my FICA taxes weren't showing up correctly. She gave me specific language to use with HR and the exact form my employer needed to correct. Problem solved in a single day after weeks of frustration. Would have saved myself so much stress if I'd just used the service from the beginning instead of being stubborn about it.

Check if your employer might have classified you as an independent contractor instead of an employee by mistake. If that happened, they wouldn't withhold FICA taxes (OASDI/EE and MED/EE) from your paycheck because independent contractors have to pay their own self-employment tax instead. Easy way to check: did your employer have you fill out a W-9 form instead of a W-4? That would indicate they're treating you as a contractor rather than an employee.

Is it possible you hit the paycheck limit for your pay period? Sometimes if your gross pay is above the upper limit or below the lower limit for FICA taxes in your specific pay period, you might not see FICA withheld. When you increased your withholding did your net pay go down significantly? Just trying to understand the full picture.

This is definitely a payroll system error that needs immediate attention. As others have mentioned, FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare) are completely separate from federal income tax withholding and should appear on every single paycheck regardless of any W-4 changes you make. The timing is very suspicious - the fact that these taxes disappeared right after you adjusted your withholding suggests your employer's payroll system may have a bug or configuration issue. When you speak with HR/payroll tomorrow, ask them to: 1. Show you exactly what was changed in the system when you requested increased withholding 2. Verify that you're still classified as a W-2 employee (not a contractor) 3. Run a test calculation to show what your FICA taxes should be based on your salary 4. Provide a timeline for when this will be corrected Don't let them brush this off as "it'll work itself out" - missing FICA contributions can create problems with your Social Security earnings record and potentially cause issues at tax time. If they can't fix it immediately, ask for written documentation of the error and their correction plan. You might also want to keep detailed records of this conversation in case you need to escalate or contact the Department of Labor if your employer doesn't resolve it promptly.