The payroll tax rate is a total of 15.3% of the employee’s salary. This is split between the employee and the employer. Both parties pay 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare tax. These taxes are under the FICA.
Employers match the payroll tax that needs to be withheld from the employee’s income and pay their portion when reporting how much is withheld with Form 941.
In addition to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld when processing payroll, certain income taxes are also withheld. This includes federal, state, and local income taxes. While federal income tax will be withheld from all employees’ income, state and local taxes are only withheld if the state and local governments tax wages.
How to find taxes withheld?
You can see the taxes withheld from your income by your employer to pay for your income tax on your W2—Wage and Tax Statement. Employers are required to furnish their employees to provide the income paid to them along with the taxes withheld from their income.
You can find the taxes withheld including Federal, State, and Local income taxes along with Social Security and Medicare tax withheld. Although you won’t use the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld for tax purposes, the income tax withheld will be used when filing a federal income tax return.
You can find the taxes withheld by your employer when processing payroll in the following boxes of Form W2—Wage and Tax Statement.
- Federal income tax withheld on Box 2
- State income tax withheld on Box 17
- Local income tax withheld on Box 19
- Social Security tax withheld on Box 4
- Medicare tax withheld on Box 6
You can also see what portion of your wages are subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you’re an employee that earns more than $200,000, you are subject to additional Medicare withholding. Learn more about the taxes withheld on Form W2 from here.