2014 SOCIAL SECURITY WAGE BASE
The Social Security Administration announced the wage base for computing social security tax for 2014 will increase to $117,000 from the 2013 wage base of $113,700. This means that for 2014, the maximum OASDI portion of the FICA tax an employee will pay is $7,254 ($117,000 x 6.2%), and employers will match the employee’s contribution. There is no wage base on the Medicare portion of the tax, so both employers will pay Medicare tax on all wages at a rate of 1.45%. Employees with wages greater than $200,000 will pay an additional Medicare tax of 0.9%. It is estimated that of the 165 million workers who will pay social security taxes in 2014, about 10 million will pay higher taxes because of the increased wage base.