Payroll Calculator
Estimate employee take-home pay after federal income tax, FICA (Social Security & Medicare), state taxes, and pre-tax deductions. Based on 2025 tax tables.
Pre-Tax Deductions
Net Take-Home Pay
per pay period
Annual Take-Home:
How Payroll Taxes Work for Small Businesses
When you hire employees, you're responsible for withholding taxes from their paychecks and remitting them to the IRS. This includes federal income tax (based on the employee's W-4 and income level), FICA taxes (Social Security at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%), and applicable state income tax. As an employer, you also match the FICA amounts — meaning FICA costs you 7.65% of gross wages on top of what you withhold from employees.
Federal income tax withholding is determined by the employee's W-4 form, pay frequency, and the applicable tax brackets. Pre-tax deductions like 401(k) contributions and health insurance premiums reduce the taxable income before federal and state tax are calculated, though they do not reduce FICA taxes.
What is FICA Tax?
FICA stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. It funds two major federal programs: Social Security (6.2% employee share, 6.2% employer share) and Medicare (1.45% each side). For 2025, the Social Security wage base is $168,600 — once an employee earns more than that in a year, they stop paying the 6.2% Social Security tax on the excess. Medicare has no income cap, and high earners above $200,000 pay an additional 0.9% in Additional Medicare Tax.
For self-employed individuals, FICA works differently: they pay Self-Employment Tax at 15.3% (both the employee and employer sides combined) but can deduct half of it on their personal income tax return as a business expense.