The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax is a U.S. federal payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare programs. The current FICA tax rate is 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare, paid by both employees and employers, resulting in a total contribution of 15.3%
. For self-employed individuals, the total FICA tax rate is 15.3%, as they are responsible for the full contribution
. The Social Security tax applies to the first $142,800 of earnings in 2021 and $147,000 in 2022, with an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax on earnings over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly
