2027 Social Security Wage Base Is $192,300: Max Tax for H-1B Earners

The 2027 Social Security wage base is $192,300, the Social Security Administration announced on October 14, 2026. Wages up to that cap are taxed at 6.2% for Social Security, so the most any employee can owe for 2027 is $11,922.60, compared with $11,439.00 on the 2026 base of $184,500. Every dollar above the cap is free of the 6.2% tax, but not of Medicare tax, which has no ceiling.

That matters most to well-paid foreign workers. A software engineer on an H-1B, a manager on an L-1 or a researcher on an O-1 pays the same Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes as a U.S. citizen: 6.2% Social Security on wages up to $192,300, 1.45% Medicare on all wages, and an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax once wages pass $200,000. The employer matches the first two, but not the 0.9%.

The new cap applies to wages paid from January 1, 2027. It moves $7,800 from the 2026 figure, which changes the employee’s maximum Social Security tax by $483.60. For anyone earning more than the cap, that is the whole effect: withholding stops once year-to-date wages reach $192,300, and nothing more is taken for the rest of the year.

SSA published the figure with the 2027 Social Security COLA, alongside the earnings needed for a work credit, which is $1,970 in 2027. Below: the full 2027 FICA math at three salary levels, how the F-1 and J-1 exemption works and when it ends, how to get back Social Security tax that two employers over-withheld, which countries have totalization agreements with the U.S., and what self-employed workers owe.

The 2027 Wage Base and the Maximum Social Security Tax

The wage base, which SSA calls the contribution and benefit base and payroll departments call the taxable maximum, is the annual earnings limit for the Social Security part of FICA. It does two jobs. It caps the 6.2% tax, and it caps the earnings SSA counts when it later calculates a retirement benefit, so wages above it neither cost Social Security tax nor raise future benefits.

The base is not set by Congress each year. The Social Security Act ties it to the national average wage index, and the 2027 amount follows the index for 2025, which SSA published in October 2026. The law also stops the base from falling below the prior year’s level. The 6.2% rate itself is fixed by statute for both employees and employers.

Payroll systems apply the cap per employer. Each employer withholds 6.2% until the wages it has paid you reach $192,300, with no knowledge of what any other employer paid. That is fine for someone with one job all year and the source of most over-withholding for people who change jobs, as the refund section below shows.

Medicare Tax Has No Cap, and the 0.9% Surtax Starts at $200,000

The Medicare half of FICA, formally Hospital Insurance, has had no wage limit since 1994. Employees and employers each pay 1.45% of every dollar of wages. On top of that, the Additional Medicare Tax adds 0.9% to wages above a threshold that depends on filing status: $200,000 for single and head-of-household filers, $250,000 for married couples filing jointly and $125,000 for married filing separately.

Those thresholds are written into the tax code and, unlike the wage base, are not indexed for inflation; they have not changed since the tax began in 2013. The employer has its own rule: it must start withholding the 0.9% in the pay period your wages from that employer pass $200,000, whatever your filing status, and it pays no matching share. You settle the real amount on Form 8959 with your return.

Here is what 2027 FICA looks like at three salaries for a single filer with one employer all year. The $150,000 salary sits below the cap, so Social Security tax applies to all of it; the two higher salaries hit the cap and pay the maximum.

A married H-1B worker whose spouse has no U.S. wages faces a mismatch: the employer withholds 0.9% on wages above $200,000, but on a joint return the tax only applies above $250,000. The excess comes back as a credit on Form 8959. The reverse happens when both spouses earn $150,000: neither employer withholds the 0.9%, but the couple owes it on $50,000 of combined wages, so they may need extra income tax withholding on Form W-4 or an estimated payment.

How H-1B, L-1 and O-1 Workers Pay Social Security Tax

The IRS rule is simple: wages paid for work in the United States are subject to Social Security and Medicare tax whatever the worker’s citizenship, unless the worker falls into a specific exempt class. H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN and E-visa workers are not in any of those classes. Tax residency does not change the answer either; an H-1B worker who is still a nonresident alien in the first months of a U.S. assignment owes FICA from the first paycheck.

The same goes for dependents who work. An H-4 or L-2 spouse with an employment authorization document pays FICA on their wages like anyone else. Our longer explainer on whether H-1B visa holders pay Social Security and Medicare taxes covers the history and the common payroll errors.

The one route out for an employment-visa worker is a totalization agreement. A worker sent to the U.S. temporarily by an employer in an agreement country can stay in the home system and skip U.S. Social Security tax, but only with a certificate of coverage from the home country. Indian nationals cannot use this route, because India has no agreement with the U.S., which is why Indian H-1B workers pay full U.S. Social Security tax from the first paycheck.

The F-1 and J-1 Exemption, and When It Ends

Section 3121(b)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code exempts work done by a nonresident alien temporarily in the U.S. in F-1, J-1, M-1 or Q-1 status, as long as the work is allowed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and tied to the purpose of the visa. IRS guidance lists on-campus jobs, off-campus work USCIS authorizes, and practical training on or off campus, which covers OPT, the STEM OPT extension and curricular practical training. Researchers, professors and teachers in J-1 status are covered for on-campus work in their program.

The exemption depends on staying a nonresident alien, and that has a clock. Students in F, J, M or Q status are “exempt individuals” who do not count days toward the substantial presence test for 5 calendar years; any part of a year counts as a full year. J-1 teachers, researchers and trainees get 2 of the preceding 6 calendar years. Once the clock runs out and the person meets the substantial presence test, they become a resident alien and owe FICA like any other worker.

Two practical consequences for 2027. A student who first arrived in F-1 status in 2022 has used 2022 through 2026 as exempt years, so in 2027 that student is likely to meet the substantial presence test and owe FICA even while still on STEM OPT. And an OPT worker picked in the H-1B lottery starts owing FICA the day the H-1B status takes effect, usually October 1 for cap cases; wages paid before that date stay exempt. Our guides on when F-1 to H-1B workers start paying FICA and splitting the tax in the year of the switch walk through the payroll mechanics.

A separate rule, the student exception in section 3121(b)(10), exempts students who work for the school where they are enrolled at least half time, regardless of residency. It covers campus jobs only, not OPT with an outside employer. If an employer withheld FICA you did not owe, ask the employer to refund it first; if it will not, file Form 843 with Form 8316 and supporting documents, as explained in our F-1 FICA refund guide.

Changed Jobs in 2027? How to Get Back Excess Social Security Tax

H-1B portability makes mid-year job changes common, and each new employer restarts the Social Security count at zero. If your combined wages from two or more employers pass $192,300, the total withheld can exceed the $11,922.60 maximum. Medicare tax is not affected, because it has no cap.

Take an H-1B engineer who earns $120,000 from Employer A through June 2027, transfers, and earns $110,000 from Employer B for the rest of the year. Employer A withholds 6.2%, or $7,440. Employer B withholds $6,820. Together that is $14,260 on $230,000 of wages, and the excess over the 2027 maximum, $2,337.40, comes back as a refundable credit on the 2027 return.

1. Two or more employers: claim the excess as a credit on Schedule 3 (Form 1040). On the 2025 schedule this is line 11, “Excess social security and tier 1 RRTA tax withheld”; check the line number on the 2027 form. Married couples filing jointly figure the excess separately for each spouse.
2. One employer withheld too much: you cannot take the credit. Ask the employer to correct it; if it does not, file Form 843 with copies of your Forms W-2.
3. FICA withheld while you were exempt (F-1 or J-1 nonresident): employer first, then Form 843 with Form 8316.

The employer’s matching share is not refunded to you in any of these cases; each employer owes its own 6.2% on the wages it pays, up to the cap. More detail on the credit is in our explainer on claiming excess Social Security and tier 1 RRTA refunds.

Totalization Agreements: The Countries, and Why India Is Not One

Totalization agreements do two things. They stop double Social Security taxation for workers on short assignments, and they let workers combine credits earned in both countries to qualify for benefits. Under the usual detached-worker rule, an employee sent to the U.S. for an assignment expected to last 5 years or less stays covered only by the home country. The agreements do not let anyone opt out of both systems.

SSA lists 31 agreements in force. The most recent, with Romania, entered into force on September 1, 2026. The full list: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.

India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Vietnam are not on the list. For Indian H-1B workers, the largest group of H-1B holders, that means full U.S. FICA on every paycheck and no way to count Indian contributions toward U.S. benefits. To qualify for a U.S. retirement benefit on your own record you need 40 credits, roughly 10 years of covered work, and leaving the U.S. does not refund what you paid. Our guides on preserving U.S. Social Security after returning to India and why Social Security agreements matter to Indians abroad cover the options.

Work Credits in 2027: $1,970 per Quarter of Coverage

Credits, or quarters of coverage, decide whether you qualify for any benefit at all. In 2027 you earn one credit for each $1,970 of covered earnings, up to 4 credits a year, so $7,880 of 2027 wages earns the full four. Like the wage base, the amount follows the national average wage index; it was $1,890 in 2026.

For a temporary worker, credits are the reason the tax is not money lost. Ten years on an H-1B and then a green card, or ten years split between the U.S. and a totalization country, can produce a benefit payable even after you leave the U.S., subject to the rules for payments abroad. Your credit count and earnings record are in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov; check them each year, because payroll errors on a name or Social Security number are far easier to fix early.

What the Self-Employed Pay: 12.4% Up to the Cap

Self-employed people pay both halves of FICA as self-employment tax: 12.4% for Social Security on net earnings up to $192,300 and 2.9% for Medicare on all of it, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax above the same filing-status thresholds. The tax is figured on Schedule SE on 92.35% of net profit, and half of it is deductible. At the cap, the 2027 Social Security portion reaches $23,845.20.

The wage base is shared. If you have W-2 wages and side income in the same year, Schedule SE subtracts your Social Security wages from the cap before applying 12.4%, so an employee already at the cap owes only the 2.9% Medicare part on freelance income. Nonresident aliens owe no self-employment tax, and most work visas do not allow self-employment anyway; green card holders and resident aliens owe it on the same terms as citizens. Our self-employment tax guide covers deductions and estimated payments.

What to Do Before Your First 2027 Paycheck

1. Check your first January pay stub. Social Security withholding restarts on January 1, 2027, so a high earner whose withholding stopped late in 2026 will see it return, and stop again once wages pass $192,300.
2. Plan for a job change. If you expect to move employers in 2027, keep both final pay stubs and Forms W-2; the over-withheld Social Security tax returns only when you file.
3. F-1 and J-1 workers: count your calendar years. If 2027 is your sixth year in student status, expect FICA to start, and make sure an exempt employer is not still treating you as exempt.
4. Married high earners: check the 0.9%. Employers withhold above $200,000 each, while a joint return uses $250,000 combined; adjust Form W-4 if both spouses earn well.
5. Workers from agreement countries: request a certificate of coverage from the home country before the assignment starts, and give it to the U.S. employer.

For the wider picture of payroll and self-employment taxes for immigrants, see our guide to U.S. employment taxes for immigrants.

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