What Is OASDI on My Paycheck? OASDI and FICA Explained

What is OASDI on your paycheck?

OASDI stands for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, the formal name of the Social Security program run by the Social Security Administration (SSA). When you see OASDI on your paycheck, it is your share of the Social Security tax: 6.2% of your wages, up to a yearly limit.

The tax funds monthly benefits for retired workers, for families of workers who have died and for people who cannot work because of a disability. IRS Publication 926 confirms that this part of the system is financed by the Social Security tax.

Paying it also earns work credits. In 2026 you get one Social Security credit for each $1,890 of covered earnings, up to four a year, and you need 40 credits to qualify for retirement benefits.

What is FICA? OASDI plus Medicare

FICA is the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, the law behind the two payroll taxes taken from most paychecks. FICA on your paycheck has two parts:

Social Security tax (OASDI): funds retirement, survivor and disability benefits.
Medicare tax (HI): funds Medicare's Hospital Insurance program.

Your employer withholds your share of both and pays a matching share that never comes out of your check. FICA is separate from federal income tax withholding, which follows your Form W-4; changing your W-4 does not change FICA.

FICA tax rates for 2026 and the Social Security wage base

The rates are set by law. The IRS and the SSA list these figures for 2026:

Social Security: 6.2% from you and 6.2% from your employer, on wages up to $184,500. The most an employee pays is $11,439.00.
Medicare: 1.45% from you and 1.45% from your employer, on all wages.
Additional Medicare Tax: another 0.9%, withheld from wages over $200,000 in a calendar year, with no employer match.

Once your wages with one employer pass $184,500, Social Security withholding stops for the rest of the year; Medicare continues. Whether you owe Additional Medicare Tax depends on filing status: $250,000 if married filing jointly, $125,000 if married filing separately and $200,000 for everyone else, per the IRS Additional Medicare Tax questions and answers. The wage base usually rises each year; the SSA has set it at $192,300 for 2027.

Where OASDI appears on your pay stub and Form W-2

Payroll systems use short labels, so the same tax can look different from one employer to the next:

Social Security: OASDI, SS, SOC SEC, FICA-SS or Social Security Tax.
Medicare: MED, MEDI, FICA-MED, HI or Medicare Tax.
Combined: some stubs show one FICA line for both taxes.
Employer share: lines marked ER, when shown, are for information and do not reduce your pay.

Each tax also has a year-to-date (YTD) total. For the rest of the stub, see What Is a Pay Stub? Every Line Explained.

At year end the totals carry over to your Form W-2: Box 3 is Social Security wages, Box 4 Social Security tax withheld, Box 5 Medicare wages and tips, and Box 6 Medicare tax withheld, including any Additional Medicare Tax. Social Security wages and tips together cannot exceed the wage base; Box 5 has no limit. Box 1 is often lower, because traditional 401(k) deferrals are left out of Box 1 but still count in Boxes 3 and 5.

Worked example: OASDI on one paycheck

A fictional semimonthly paycheck (24 pay dates a year) with invented, round figures:

Salary for the period: $3,000.00
Health premium through a cafeteria plan, pre-tax: −$100.00
Traditional 401(k), 5% of salary: −$150.00
Wages subject to FICA: $3,000.00 − $100.00 = $2,900.00
OASDI: $2,900.00 × 6.2% = $179.80
Medicare: $2,900.00 × 1.45% = $42.05
FICA withheld: $221.85, and the employer pays another $221.85

The health premium lowers FICA wages because cafeteria-plan health benefits are exempt from Social Security and Medicare under IRS Publication 15-B. The 401(k) deferral does not, because elective deferrals still count as wages for both taxes. Yearly Social Security wages here are $69,600 (24 × $2,900), well under $184,500, so the tax appears on every paycheck.

To check your own stub, multiply this period's Social Security wages by 0.062 and Medicare wages by 0.0145; a one-cent gap is usually rounding. For a full stub laid out field by field, see Paystub Template: What to Include and Free Options.

Two jobs and the excess Social Security credit

Each employer applies the wage base separately. If you hold two jobs and your combined wages pass it, too much Social Security tax can be withheld. A fictional 2026 example:

Job A pays $120,000 and withholds $7,440 (6.2%).
Job B pays $90,000 and withholds $5,580.
Total withheld: $13,020. The 2026 maximum is $11,439, so $1,581 is excess.

Under IRS Topic 608, you may be able to claim the excess as a credit on your income tax return, on Schedule 3 of Form 1040. Spouses filing jointly figure it separately. If one employer alone withheld too much, the credit does not apply: ask that employer to correct it, and if it does not, file Form 843.

This worker also owes Additional Medicare Tax that neither employer withheld: as a single filer, $210,000 is $10,000 over the threshold, so 0.9% adds $90, figured on Form 8959. Extra W-4 withholding or estimated payments can cover it.

Self-employment tax and FICA exemptions

If you work for yourself, you pay both halves. The self-employment tax is 15.3%, 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare, owed when net self-employment earnings are $400 or more. The Social Security part stops at the wage base, counting wages and net earnings together, and you deduct the employer-equivalent portion when figuring adjusted gross income.

Some workers are exempt on certain wages. Two exceptions the IRS describes:

Students employed by the school, college or university where they are pursuing a course of study, when being a student is the main relationship. See the student exception to FICA tax.
Certain nonresident aliens in F-1, J-1, M-1 or Q-1 status, for work their status allows and that serves the purpose of their visa. Resident aliens pay like U.S. citizens. See Aliens employed in the U.S.

Other narrow exceptions exist. Ask payroll before assuming the tax is optional; for most employees, it is not.

How to check your Social Security earnings record

Social Security tax only helps you if the wages behind it reach your record. Once a year:

Sign in to, or create, a personal my Social Security account.
Open your Social Security Statement and review your earnings history.
Compare each year with Box 3 of your W-2s, added together if you had more than one job, plus any net self-employment earnings.
Make sure payroll has your name and Social Security number exactly as they appear on your Social Security card.

If a year is missing or wrong, the SSA explains how to correct your earnings record: you may be able to request it online, or call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) with your W-2s and pay stubs. Act early. Ordinarily, earnings cannot be corrected more than 3 years, 3 months and 15 days after the year ends, with some exceptions.

Where StubSafe fits

StubSafe is a free pay stub maker from Auto Secure Login for people who prepare pay statements from their own payroll records. It needs no account to make a stub, keeps payroll information on your device and turns the numbers you enter into a PDF, with live totals.

In the full app, each deduction carries a category such as tax, pre-tax or post-tax, and year-to-date figures roll forward.
The full app's optional tax adviser estimates federal and FICA amounts, naming the publisher and linking the official source for each figure. They are estimates to confirm against sources such as IRS Topic 751, not tax advice.

Every document is printed as self-generated and independently unverified. StubSafe does not verify employment or income, and it is not a payroll provider: it does not move money or file taxes.

Frequently asked questions

What is OASDI on my paycheck?

It is your Social Security tax, short for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance. In 2026 employees pay 6.2% of wages up to $184,500, and employers pay the same.

What is FICA, and is it the same as OASDI?

Not quite. FICA covers Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%). The employee share is 7.65% of wages up to the wage base and 1.45% above it, plus Additional Medicare Tax on wages over $200,000.

Can I get Social Security tax refunded?

Only in specific cases: excess withholding from two or more employers, claimed on your tax return, or tax one employer withheld in excess or in error, which that employer should correct. Otherwise it is not refundable; it builds the earnings record your benefits are based on.

Why did Social Security tax stop late in the year?

Your wages with that employer probably passed the wage base ($184,500 in 2026). Social Security withholding stops until January while Medicare continues, so take-home pay rises.

Why is FICA on my paycheck not 7.65% of my gross pay?

Pre-tax deductions such as cafeteria-plan health premiums lower FICA wages; 401(k) deferrals do not. Compare the tax with your Social Security and Medicare wages, not gross pay.

Can StubSafe estimate Social Security and Medicare?

The full StubSafe app's optional tax adviser estimates federal and FICA amounts and links the official source for each figure. Confirm them yourself; they are not tax advice, and StubSafe formats the numbers you enter rather than running payroll.

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What Is OASDI on My Paycheck? OASDI, FICA and Medicare Explained