81 thoughts on “Is Someone You Know Wondering “Who” FICA Is?

  1. Strange ,they in the government,always complain about SS Benifits.
    Well, for an individual, like me ,who worked 50 yrs.WITHOUT any state of Federal help. Had my FICA paid up by July every year. The government should thank us,who worked ans employed people .
    Then, I would like to hear Clinton,or Obama about the garbage package they offer.
    Wise up America! Soon it will be to late. Another 4 yrs. like the present admin.will bankrupt the country.

  2. My daughter passed away at 31 years of age. She had tens of thousands of dollars in her account. She never filed a claim on her account. Yet, Social Security stole her premium dollars from her annuity- Yes ANNUITY not entitlement.. No reimbursement for unused premiums. No death benefit. The system is in bigger trouble then we all thought when you steal money from the working class people and let the elite pay nothing. Take the cap off of the FICA taxes and here’s what you do: Make everyone on Social Security/Medicare categorically duel eligible for Medicare and Medicaid; Death benefit of unused premiums; Develop parts for Dental, glasses and long term care; no exemption for FICA, everyone pays;. et al. It can be fixed only if we the people get angry enough.

    • Sorry that your daughter passed away at such an early age. Some misconceptions need corrected, however. If she had worked and paid in the max for 10 years there is no way her contribution would have amounted to tens of thousands. Evidently she was not married so no $255.00 death benefit. And if she had no children then no survivor’s benefits either. It was her life choices that resulted in no payouts from her account. No one stole anything. She had no annuity, she had insurance and like with any insurance there are those who collect and those who don’t, it’s called sharing the risk.

      And why should those on MEDICARE also be on MEDICAID or welfare? Those getting MEDICARE for the most part are there as an earned right, welfare is not earned. Remember the more that pay into FICA the more that can potentially collect ending up in a zero net gain or loss in the long haul.

    • how could we get agree we are to busy looking at Fox sports or Fox News that’s to busy to send and email to your Congressman or Elected official and vote other than just the Presidential elections…We have FICA and social Security was implemented to prevent dire and dog poor poverty… Check history to see how the elderly who retired before there was a SS and a FICA Now helps the elderly as well as the short of mind. “Don’t they need to have a life? Our collective and solidarity is what created these programs. Which in the last 20 – or so years has changed to and anti-solidarity mindset and movement. They say we can get more bang for the “buck if we privatize it…Marlarkey these folks are against improving our people in all community. All they talk about is the $money “yet they have failed to pay the Loans back to Social Security, during the Johnson, Lyndon
      As well as the Reagan administration, I have yet to hear that money has been paid back into the SS account.


    • Hello! You need to read the Supreme Court’s 1960 case of Flemming vs. Nestor, in which the Court declared there is NO “special” saving’s type account for each enrolled worker.

  3. Social Security is an insurance program. It says so right at the top of your application. It is to insure against a percentage of lost working income whether that be due to retirement, death or disability (as defined by Congress and the courts). When you have insurance you pay into the pot not knowing if you (or a loved one) will ever collect. This is a program, like all insurance programs, where funds are pooled for eventualities. That is the nature of all insurance. It is not an annuity with a private investment account that you can take a lump sum from. There is strength in pooling that cannot be obtained by self investment. Most people who do qualify use up their contributions with interest…it doesn’t stop when these run out. There have to be tradeoffs, including some who invest for the greater good even if it works out that they don’t personally get much out of it. Let us remember that our national motto “e pluribus unum” means “out of many one”. That ability to see beyond ourselves used to represent the better angels in America. This doesn’t mean that the program is crooked. If you want more, you will have to pay more or find other financing. If you want changes, Congress will have to legislate them. No President has outright control over the programs either. The agency can only act on rules and regulations derived from Congress. These are facts. Unrelated unhappiness with politicians or parties, or political axes to grind just muddy the water and create confusion about what the program actually represents. There are no conspiracies involved. It is what the people you sent to Congress legislated.

    • So tell me why is there the GPO/WEP. I worked 9 nine years before I became a civil servent. If you don’t know that’s where they steal $ 428.00 per month. Please explain.

      • To ensure that most Social Security beneficiaries receive enough income on which to live, Social Security benefit formulas are weighted to be most favorable to those that worked all their lives at relatively low wages. As you earn more, the benefit amount you will later receive does increase, but such increases begin to accrue more gradually.

        While the above computational formula was designed to help those with low wages, it unfortunately created an unintended windfall for those that worked most of their lives at government jobs that did not participate or pay into Social Security. The effect was that government employees often essentially minimized their contributions to the Social Security system, yet when they did later qualify for Social Security, they often received the highest rates of return possible on those dollars they had paid in.

        It was during the Reagan administration that the above unfairness was addressed. Today if you receive a pension based on employment that didn’t pay into Social Security (and you don’t have 30 “substantial years” of paying into Social Security), the favorable computational formula for low wage earners is modified and your benefit rate is reduced by what SSA calls the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Also, if try to collect Social Security as the spouse or widow of a worker that paid into Social Security, your years of employment where you did not contribute to the Social Security system do not go unnoticed and SSA reduces your benefit by 2/3 the amount of your “non-covered” pension. This reduction to a spousal or widow’s benefit is called “Government Pension Offset” (GPO).

      • Hello William, Thank you for your question. Individuals that worked for a federal, state or local government agency, a nonprofit organization or in another country, are sometimes eligible for a pension based on earnings not covered by Social Security.
        If this is your situation, your future Social Security benefit amount could be affected.
        However, If you paid Social Security tax on 30 years of substantial earnings you will not affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). See more information: Information For Government Employees

    • Be careful as to how much stock is put into the titles of government run programs, after all is the Affordable
      Care Act actually affordable? Insurance companies have been pulling out. Time will tell. Social Security can be considered a ponzee scheme which works as long as a lot more people are putting in as compared to those taking out. When initiated it was a sixteen to one ratio. I’ve heard that it is now closer to six to one. Thoughts?

    • Yes it is insurance…however the US people are its backers of that insurance it is not based on a means of profit but only of sustaining the nations elders, widows, and orphans.When your retired its time to enjoy life SS is to provide a basic income to the having a dignified life as I understand its based. Understanding that is or our solidarity as one!

    • Great job explaining that. People just keep complaining before they understand what SSA is all about. I am sorry though your daughter passed away.

  4. Working in accounting I knew who FICA was. and why business want Social Security gone from paychecks. Since they business has to match this payment for each and every employee who work for them. The retirees benefit from their deductions but also from the matching payment from the business who also contribute.


  5. Does anybody knows what exact period the SS take for the calculation of your retirement income? the last 10, 15, 20 years of work?
    Thank you!

    • Hi David. When you receive disability benefits under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, we will automatically convert your disability benefits to retirement benefits, when you attain your Full Retirement Age (currently age 66). The benefit amount will generally remain the same.

    • That don’t even make sense and really you have no clue what your ragging on. Also please don;t response you may appear more than just dumb!

      *It was design to care and do just that!” so what’s your grief about that …it was design for that purpose, Why some people have a problem with that is beyond my comprehension

      • Carter, I would suggest that re-read your own post. Talk about looking dumb, your use of the English language left something to be desired. Your spelling and correct tense of words might possibly show how dumb you are.

  6. Please let me know why I pay double Medicare taxation. The amount debited from my Social Security retirement check (I am 69 years old) and the 1.45% deducted from my paychecks (I am still working thanks God). I don’t receive double Medicare benefits. I understand the Social Security deduction because it increases my benefits, but I am flabbergasted with the double Medicare taxation.

    • You pay a mandatory federal TAX to the IRS towards Medicare AND Social Security when working. Nothing is as certain as death and taxes!!
      PS: those FICA wages MAY raise your SS benefit

    • I don’t understand where you get double taxation for Medicare? Some who have higher income pay more for Medicare. It depends on your income declared on your taxes. If you are still working, you are still going to have FICA withdrawn from your paycheck no matter what age you are.

    • Lucy, the amount deducted from your retirement check is a Premium Fee for receiving Medicare, it’s NOT a TAX. You’re being charged it because your income is high enough that you don’t qualify to have your state of residence post it for you. Some people, such as those that are disabled or too old, get help paying for it, don’t have that Premium deducted. For instance, I suffer a chronic illness and can’t work so my State posts the Premium for me. However, there was a period when I COULD work and those paychecks had FICA deducted, but NOT the Premium because it was a trial period to see if I could handle a long term job. I couldn’t. I got sick again after 6 mos but that little bit of time meant that my benefits went up the following year by $15.
      I don’t know if you look at your Benefit Statements all that closely but if you don’t, do it now and you you might see how much your working wages increase your benefits. If they’re NOT increasing your benefits you might want to go go check out the benefits calculator that’s online here, on this site. I don’t have the link but I’ll go find it and post it as a reply.
      I’m glad you’re still able to work! What I wouldn’t give for that blessing!! I’m only 53 and I’ve been disabled since I was 25. I qualified for SSDI because i was earning a paycheck since age 15 to support a disabled parent so a blessing in disguise, right?

    • I’m back.
      The BEST way I see for you to check on your benefits and ANY confusion or questions you might have, is to create an account. It seems easy and they’ve made it even easier because they used to make it mandatory that one HAD to have a cell phone to verify your account. Not any more. This way, by creating your own account, you’ll know that what you’re earning is actually going into YOUR account and no one else’s.
      There’s help online if you need it.
      Good luck!

  7. how long have the ragheads and wetbacks worked for the bennys you rob from us and give to them along with free doctor care you are a bunch of dick heads


  8. Carter you have proven your point by incorrect use of words such as “your” when you meant “you’re” and “response” when you meant “respond”. Apparently you don’t know how to use your keyboard either as you used a semi-colon instead of an apostrophe. So you are just as dumb as those you are “ragging on”.

    • No question is dumb unless it’s not asked. If someone is just not using punctuation right, that’s just ignorance of grammar that can be corrected. There’s no need to be rude. She’s simply asking a question.

  9. Well gee. I am 88 years old. Did not pay into FICA until I was 52 years old. From then on until I retired in June, 2015, every dollar I earned as an employee had
    about 8 cents taken out for SS and Medicare. My boss paid the same FOR ME. When I had a business the last 24 years, I, myself, paid about 16 cents on every dollar of profit. Maybe I don’t get a HUGE SS benefit but it keeps me alive. Medicare paid for more than $200,000 in benefits for me in 2014. Thanks for SS and Medicare!! And by the way, since I am single, no death benefit—I have already paid for it myself.!!!!!

  10. It’s my opinion that once someone starts drawing SS or SSDI, they should be exempt from paying Federal Taxes. Let them find the $$ elsewhere. We need every bit of our checks!

    • Depending on whether or not you have additional income, say from investments you created before you became disabled that you’re now drawing on, if your SSDI or SS is your ONLY income, you generally DON’T have to pay income taxes on it. I’ll put myself as an example and say that my income from my SSDI is WAY below the minimum for filling as a single individual with no dependents to declare and no other income assets. I’m also receiving Medicaid and Food Stamps because without them I wouldn’t survive.


    • Hi Vince. As long as you continue to work, even if you are receiving benefits, you will continue to pay Social Security taxes on your earnings. However, we will check your record every year to see whether the additional earnings you had will increase your monthly benefit. If there is an increase, we will send you a letter telling you of your new benefit amount. Thanks!

  11. LOL that is so funny we should scream!
    Most deductions on paychecks are part of a Monstrous Ponzi Scheme by the government for 40 years or more!

  12. I was hit by a car and am now permanently disabled. I am on SSDI. When I become retirement age, will I need to apply for SSI too? Will I lose my SSDI? Will I be receiving both? I worked for several decades.

  13. Social Security’s Acting Commissioner, Carolyn W. Colvin, likes to tell this amusing story. A colleague’s teenage daughter came home bursting with excitement after receiving her first paycheck. But she had one question about her earnings statement.
    “Well, Dad” — she asked him earnestly — “who is this FICA?”
    WELL, THANK GOD SHE CAN WORK and she was not born an ADULT DISABLED CHILD who is physically disabled! If she was born an “adult disabled child”, then she COULD NOT MARRY any abled bodied person that she wanted to= OR SHE WOULD LOOSE ALL HER BENEFITS!!!

    How fair, understanding and compassionate does that sound? Answer = IT DOES NOT!

    Who cares if her physically disabled daughter (who is free to make decisions on her own) decides to marry an able bodied person, it’s her business to do so, right?

    It is just another form of DISCRIMINATION that is being allowed to operate openly under the SOCIALIST SECURITY SYSTEM!










  14. I am working part time & retired . no deductions in my pay check. Will I receive an increase in my SSS monthly benefit after I file my income tax which includes my annual income from my part time job?

    longer sure whether or not this put up is written through him as nobody else realize such detailed about my problem.
    You are amazing! Thank you!

  16. I will be 61 in May, I get SSI now,346. A month,so when am I eligible to apply,as I want to start it at 62. Will this be ok??.Thank you and enjoy day.

    • Thank you for contacting us, Michael. Please keep in mind that the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based program that pays benefits to disabled individuals based on financial need. If you’re receiving benefits under the SSI program now, but you’re also insured and qualify for retirement benefit on your own record, you are required to apply for those benefits at age 62.
      We hope this information helps.

  17. Well I am disappointed with fica and the way it works. When I started working in 1980 the minume wage was $1.25 an hour. I worked my whole life and supported my children and now that the economy crashed my social security check it enough to live on when the economy crashed I received unemployment for a while I tried to work where I could work but my statement from Social Security if I was to retire back in 2001 I would have received 1200 and some a month plus benefits for my kids but now the economy crash I get $863 a month that’s almost the same that’s what somebody that that lived on welfare their whole life makes from Social Security I truly believe I should be getting more money but I don’t have an attorney to go back and make sure I’m making the right amount so shameful that the United States don’t think more of me then they do I raise my children I worked I get everything all by myself I should get disability payments for raising my children without raising them on welfare



  18. I am a federal retiree. After I retired under CSRS I worked as a contractor and paid into SS. When I fully retired I received SS, reduced substantially by law. In the 2019 2.8% cost of living increase there was no increase in my SS payments. They were $468/month in 2018 and remained $468/month in the SSA mailing for 2019. Did I get no cost of living increase? The 2.8% should have raised the monthly check to $481. Please explain. Thanks.


  19. Thank you for the information I have read was very important to me. Out of all the years I did not know what FICA meant. Understanding these acronyms is very important. Social Security does a lot. I’m glad I contribute to FICA. Helping others is good. This pleases God Almighty.

  20. My husband and I worked from the age of 14. At 21 I found my job at a clinic and for 5 years I paid F.I.C.A. NOW I’m a widow and i get no spousal benefits…….neither does our ONLY CHILD!!! Also, shouldn’t those 5 years of FICA be taken into consideration? As it stands now, looks normal for a hardworking man who dies and they deny his family benefits. Then for me, I paid 5 yrs of FICA and it displays 00000 for five years. Just said it’s like I didn’t pay anything.

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