DECISION READING
The threshold that changes the reading.
A salary increase above $184,500 no longer increases employee OASDI for 2026, while Medicare continues. MOVE needs a capped Social Security calculation and an uncapped Medicare layer rather than one flat payroll percentage.
REPRODUCIBLE WORK
Test both sides of the boundary.
$150K OASDI
$150,000 × 6.2%
$9,300Cap-level OASDI
$184,500 × 6.2%
$11,439$200K OASDI
min($200,000, $184,500) × 6.2%
$11,439Medicare contrast
$200,000 × 1.45%
$2,900 before any Additional Medicare TaxSENSITIVITY
Move the input and watch the boundary.
- Multiple employers can over-withhold Social Security during the year.
- Additional Medicare Tax has separate filing-status thresholds.
- The taxable maximum changes annually.
INPUT AND EVIDENCE LEDGER
Values held constant for this test.
| Field | Value | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Employee OASDI rate | 6.2% | SSA / IRS |
| 2026 taxable maximum | $184,500 | SSA |
| Employee Medicare rate | 1.45% with no wage cap | IRS |
| Wage cases | $150K / $184.5K / $200K | Controlled comparison |
SOURCE SNAPSHOT
Verify the sourced threshold and its scope.
HUMAN ACCOUNTABILITY + AI USE RECORD
The owner is accountable; the technical checks were AI-assisted.
The TOOOLBOX site owner authorized the publication scope and remains the correction contact. AI assistance was used for drafting, implementation, arithmetic recomputation, and source-link checks. This record does not claim line-by-line human fact-checking or licensed professional review.
- Record ID
- TB-MOVE-17-20260902
- Owner role
- TOOOLBOX site owner and developer
- Technical check date
- 2026-09-02
- Human fact-check
- No separate human fact-check recorded
- AI use
- Drafting, code, arithmetic, and link checks
- Correction channel
- Public contact page
- Matched the cap and maximum contribution to SSA's published figures.
- Recomputed all three wage cases and the Medicare contrast.
- Separated employee, employer, and self-employment treatment.
BOUNDARIES
What the threshold does not decide.
- Only employee payroll tax is illustrated.
- Self-employment uses different combined rates and deductions.
- The page does not calculate a full tax return.
MORE MOVE DECISION NOTES
Test the result yourself.
This note preserves a dated calculation. Change the inputs in the live workspace, or compare another evidence pattern below. Live source availability and results can differ from the dated example.