Key Takeaways
- Employers should withhold half (7.65%) of the 15.3% owed in FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes from an employee's gross pay.
- FICA taxes come in addition to regular federal income taxes, which change depending on your income level.
- There are seven tax brackets in 2022 and 2023: 12%. 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.
- FICA and federal withholding are taken out of adjusted gross pay, meaning any deductions from contributing to a 401(k) or other tax-deferred accounts are factored in beforehand.
Are you considering doing your own payroll processing? Calculating withholding and deductions for employee paychecks isn't difficult if you follow the steps detailed here.
Your goal in this process is to get from the gross pay amount (the actual amount you owe the employee) to net pay (the amount of the employee's paycheck). After you have calculated gross pay for the pay period, you then must deduct or withhold amounts for federal income taxwithholding, FICA (Social Security/Medicare) tax, state and local income tax, and other deductions.
Step One: Get a W-4 Form From Each Employee
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires that all workers in the U.S. sign IRS FormW-4 at hire. This form includes important information you need to pay the employee and to make sure withholding and deductions are correctly calculated on the employee's pay.
In addition to the employee's name and address, marital status, and filing status, you will need to get other information from the W-4 to do the withholding calculations for federal income tax.
Step Two: Calculate Gross Pay
Employee paychecks start out as gross pay. Gross pay is the total amount of pay before any deductions or withholding. For the purpose of determining income tax and FICA tax (for Social Security and Medicare), use all wages, salaries, and tips.
How To Determine Gross Pay
For salaried employees, start with the person's annual salary divided by the number of pay periods. For hourly employees, it's the number of hours worked times the rate (including overtime).
If you are not sure how to pay employees, read this article on the difference between salaried and hourly employees.
Here are examples of how gross pay for one payroll period is calculated for both salaried and hourly employeesif no overtime is included for that pay period:
Let's say your employee makes an annual salary of $30,000. This salary is divided by the number of pay periodsin the year to get the gross pay for one pay period. If you pay salaried employees twice a month, there are 24 pay periods in the year, and the gross pay for one pay period is $1,250 ($30,000 divided by 24).
An hourly employee is paid at an hourly rate for the pay period. If an employee's hourly rate is $12 and they worked 38 hours in the pay period, the employee's gross pay for that paycheck is $456 ($12 x 38).
Step Three: Calculate Overtime
All hourly employees are entitled to overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week. Some salaried employees are exempt from overtime, depending on their pay level. Lower-paid salaried employees must receive overtime if theirsalary is equal to or less than $684 a week ($35,568 annually),even if they are classified as exempt.
You can pay more than the required overtime rate, but we'll use the required amount here. Some states also have overtime laws requiring that overtime is to be paid at higher rates. Check your state labor departmentfor details.
Here's an example of how overtime is calculated:
Sandy works 43 hours in one week. She is entitled to overtime for three hours at 1.5 times her hourly rate. If her hourly rate is $12, she receives overtime at the rate of $18 for three hours, totaling$54 of overtime. This overtime of $54 is added to her regular hourly pay of $480 (40 hours x $12), for a total of $534. The $534 is her gross pay for the pay period.
Step Four: Adjust Gross Pay for Social Security Wages
Before you calculate FICA withholding and income tax withholding, you must removesome types of payments to employees.The types of payments not included fromSocial Security wagesmay be different from the types of pay excluded from federal income tax.
For example, if youhire your child (under age 18) to work in your business, you must take out the amount of their pay when you calculate Social Security withholding, but not take it out when calculating federal income tax withholding.
Here's another example:Your contributions to a tax-deferred retirement plan (like a 401(k) plan) should not be included in calculations for both federal income tax or Social Security tax.
Note
IRS Publication 15(Circular E) has a complete list of payments to employees and whether they are included in Social Security wages or subject to federal income tax withholding.
Step Five: Calculate Federal Income Tax (FIT) Withholding Amount
To calculate federal income tax withholding you will need:
- The employee's adjusted gross pay for the pay period
- The employee's W-4 form
- A copy of the tax tables from the IRS inPublication 15-T: Employer's Tax Guide, using the table for the correct year
The 2022 income tax brackets (to be filed in 2023) are as follows:
- 37% for incomes over $578,125 ($693,750 for married couples filing jointly)
- 35% for incomes over $231,250 ($462,500 for married couples filing jointly)
- 32% for incomes over $182,100 ($364,200 for married couples filing jointly)
- 24% for incomes over $95,375 ($190,750 for married couples filing jointly)
- 22% for incomes over $44,725 ($89,450 for married couples filing jointly)
- 12% for incomes over $11,000 ($22,000 for married couples filing jointly)
Step Six: Calculate Social Security and Medicare Deductions
You must withhold FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare) from employee paychecks.
Note
Be sure you are using the correct amount of gross pay for this calculation. This article on Social Security wages explains what wages to take out for this calculation.
The calculation for FICA withholding is fairly straightforward.
| FICA Taxes: Who Pays What? | ||
|---|---|---|
| FICA Taxes (% of employee gross pay) | Employee Pays | Employer Pays |
| Social Security Tax 12.4% (Up to Annual Maximum) | 6.2% | 6.2% |
| Medicare Tax 2.9% (Up to $200,000) | 1.45% | 1.45% |
| Additional Medicare Tax | 0.9% on gross pay over $200,000 | 0% |
Withhold half of the total 15.3% from the employee's paycheck (7.65% = 6.2% for Social Security plus 1.45% for Medicare). The other half of FICA taxes is owed by you, the employer.
For a hypotheticalemployee, with $1,500 in weekly pay, the calculation is $1,500 x 7.65% (.0765) for a total of $114.75.
Be careful not to deduct too much Social Security taxfrom high-income employees since Social Security is capped each year, with the maximum amount being set by the SocialSecurity Administration.
You will also need to consider the additional Medicare tax deduction due by higher-income employees, which begins when the employee reaches $200,000 in earnings for the year. The additional tax is 0.9% of the gross pay based on the employee's W-4 status. No additional tax is due from the employer.
Step Seven: Take State Income Tax Deductions
Most states impose income taxes on employee salaries and wages.Do some research to determine the amounts of these deductions and how to send them to the appropriate state/local taxing authority.
Step Eight (Optional): Take Other Deductions
You're not quite done yet with deductions. Here are some other possible deductions from employee pay you might need to calculate:
- Deductions for employee contributions to health plan coverage
- Deductions for 401(k) or other retirement plan contributions
- Deductions for contributions to internal company funds or charitable donations
Remember, all deductions start with and are based on gross pay.
An Example of an Employee Pay Stub
In the case of the employee above, the weekly pay stub would look like this:
| Employee Pay Stub | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Pay | Federal Income Tax Withholding | FICA Tax Withholding | Other Deductions | Net Pay |
| $1,500.00 | $273.56 | $114.75 | $0.00 | $1,111.69 |
Don't Forget Employer Payroll Taxes
You must make deposits with the IRS of the taxes withheld from employees' pay for federal income taxes, FICA taxes, and the amounts you owe as an employer. Specifically, after each payroll, you must:
- Pay the federal income tax withholding from all employees
- Pay the FICA tax withholding from all employees
- Pay your half of the FICA tax for all employees
Depending on the size of your payroll, you must make deposits monthly or semi-weekly.
You must also file a quarterly report on Form 941 showing the amounts you owe and how much you have paid.
Note
If you have many employees or don't have the staff to handle payroll processing, consider a payroll processing serviceto handle paychecks, payments to the IRS, and year-end reports on Form W-2.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What percentage of my paycheck is withheld for federal taxes?
Employers withhold 7.65% of your adjusted gross income for FICA taxes (6.2% for Social Security taxes and 1.45% for Medicare taxes) in addition to federal income tax. Depending on your income level, you fall into one of the following federal income tax brackets: 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.
Why was no federal income tax withheld from my paycheck?
If you don't see federal income tax being taken out of your paycheck, it is either because your employer considers you an independent contractor, meaning you will receive a 1099 and likely be required to pay quarterly estimated taxes, or you claimed exemption from federal income taxes (e.g. you do not expect to have a tax liability for the current year).
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Sources
The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
IRS. "Hiring Employees."
Internal Revenue Service. "Topic No. 401 Wages and Salaries."
U.S. Department of Labor. "Overtime Pay."
U.S. Department of Labor. "Final Rule: Overtime Pay."
IRS. "Family Help."
Internal Revenue Service. "Publication 15-T (2022), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods."
IRS. "IRS Provides Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2023."
IRS. "Topic No. 751 Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates."
