I don't have my W-2 yet. How can I figure my Medicare wages?

Why such a rush? You will need the W-2 to file anyway.

Many employers have cumulative totals for employee deductions on the statement of earnings issued on payday. The date of the paycheck or direct deposit is what counts, so you should have that already if you employer provides statements on payday.

In addition the IRS normally doesn't accept returns in the first half of January.

The IRS will accept mailed tax returns starting on 1 January 2009.

They will not accept returns filed electronically until 16 January 2009.

Wages subject to Medicare withholding include gross wages, including any withholdings from your pay for tax deferred retirement account, Sec 125 plans, tips, and a few other items (I would need more specific informatin about your wages to tell you if you have something else that may need to be added in.). Take that amount and multiply it by 1.45% to come up with the actual withholding amount. Medicare does not have a wage base limitation, so with very few exceptions, "everything" is included in wages subject to medicare.

You did not ask, but the social security withholding rate is 6.2% and in 2008 the wage base limitation was $102,000.00.

Hope this is what you are looking for.

Wages subject to Medicare withholding include gross wages, including any withholdings from your pay for tax deferred retirement account, Sec 125 plans, tips, and a few other items (I would need more specific informatin about your wages to tell you if you have something else that may need to be added in.). Take that amount and multiply it by 1.45% to come up with the actual withholding amount. Medicare does not have a wage base limitation, so with very few exceptions, "everything" is included in wages subject to medicare.

You did not ask, but the social security withholding rate is 6.2% and in 2008 the wage base limitation was $102,000.00.

Hope this is what you are looking for.

Yes, it is. It looks like, based on the formula you've given, that I came up about $31.00 short on the tax to be paid. But, if you hadn't answered I wouldn't have learned some cool tax stuff. Thanks, DeDeGc!

$31 would be normally rounding error and is not worth being concerned about.

Yes, it is. It looks like, based on the formula you've given, that I came up about $31.00 short on the tax to be paid. But, if you hadn't answered I wouldn't have learned some cool tax stuff. Thanks, DeDeGc!

Hi carlysdad,

There are 2 reasons I can think off the top of my head for the $31.00 discrepancy.


Reason #1: The $31.00 discrepancy may have to do with some "Pre-tax" payroll deductions that haven't been accounted for. Did you have any "Pre-tax" deductions, like health insurance premiums for example (i.e. medical, dental, vision), automatically taken out of your check every pay period? These deductions are called "Pre-Tax" deductions , because they are deducted/subtracted from your wages before certain taxes (i.e. Social Security and Medicare) are assessed. Therefore, what you are left with (after you have subtracted those types of "Pre-Tax deductions") should be what is called your "Medicare Wages" (that is the amount of your wages that are taxable by Soc. Sec. and Medicare). Try subtracting the amount of your "Pre-Tax" payroll deductions (i.e. health insurance premiums) from your Wages before calculating your Social Security or Medicare taxes.

For example:

Assume your Gross Wages (before any tax deductions) for 2008 were $60,000.00, and you had "Pre-Tax" deductions for insurance premiums (i.e. medical, dental, vision, etc.) withheld by your employer, from your 2008 paychecks, totaling $2,400.00. Then your Social Security and Medicare taxes would be calculated using only $57,600.00 worth of your Gross Wages ($60,000.00 - $2,400.00). The $57,600.00 is what should be known as your total "Medicare Wages", and that is the figure that should be used to approximate your Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes:

Total Soc Sec. = $57,600.00 x 0.062 = $3,571.20

Total Medicare = $57,600.00 x 0.0145 = $835.20

Sometimes SS and Medicare are grouped together and called FICA. In that case you could add the two figures together to get $4,406.40.

Combining the SS rate (0.062) with the Medicare rate (0.0145) to get 0.0765 will pretty much give you the same result. Total FICA would be: $57,600.00 x 0.0765 = $4,406.40.


Reason #2: (In case you had already thought of Reason #1:D) The $31.00 discrepancy could also be due to the way you did your Soc. Security and Medicare calculations. Remember, above, when I said you can use your total Medicare Wages to "approximate " your Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes?:confused:

Well, the reason I said "approximate" is because Soc. Sec. taxes and Medicare taxes is not generally assessed based on one huge lump sum figure (like in the example above). Your Soc. Sec. taxes and Medicare taxes are usually assessed each paycheck. So unless you get paid once a year (highly unlikely), your Soc. Sec. taxes and Medicare taxes will be calculated a little at a time from each check. Doing the calculations "little by little" that way, means that the figures from each paycheck will be rounded to the nearest cent. It is possible, that over the course of a year, these tiny differences in the rounded figures from each paycheck could cause the $31.00 discrepancy that you have.

Suggestion: Try computing you Social Sec. and Medicare taxes separately from each paycheck (just like the HR payroll office did it). I am willing to bet that you will clear up that $31.00 discrepancy in no time.

Sorry for talking your ear off, and hope this helps even just a little:o