Scenarios · what applies to you
The situation you are actually in
Parameters are national. Problems are personal. These pages take one situation at a time and show the rule, the number and the next step.
| Scenario | What it answers | Last verified |
|---|---|---|
| Excess Social Security tax, recovered | Two payrolls, one wage base. Each employer withholds 6.2% against its own records, and the combined total can exceed the statutory maximum. | 2026-11-07 |
| Self-employed: 12.4% vs 15.3% | The two rates describe the same tax at different levels of detail. One is the Social Security portion alone; the other adds Medicare. | 2026-11-07 |
| Medicare tax has no wage limit | If your Social Security withholding stopped in August but a Medicare line is still on every paycheck, nothing is wrong. The two taxes have different ceilings — one has none. | 2026-11-07 |
| Claiming at 62, 67, or 70 | Three ages, three fractions of the same benefit. The formula is fixed by statute, so the trade-off can be calculated exactly before you file. | 2026-11-07 |
| Working after you claim | Collecting a benefit and holding a job are compatible. What changes is how much of the benefit is paid while you are under full retirement age and earning above the annual limit. | 2026-11-07 |
| How Social Security benefits are taxed | Part of a benefit can be subject to federal income tax. The thresholds that decide how much were written decades ago and have never been indexed. | 2026-11-07 |
| The $6,000 senior deduction | The provision is a deduction against taxable income, available for four tax years. It is routinely described as a check, which it is not. | 2026-11-07 |
| 2032 or 2034: two trust fund dates | Both dates come from the same report and describe different pools of money. Confusing them is the source of most claims that benefits are 'running out' in one particular year. | 2026-11-07 |
| Spousal benefits: the 50% rule | The percentage is applied to a formula amount, not to the deposit the worker receives. That distinction changes the answer for almost every household that asks. | 2026-11-07 |
| Survivor benefits: the 100% rule | Survivor benefits are the one part of the program where the worker's decision to delay is passed on in full. The percentage applies to the benefit the worker earned, not to a fixed formula amount. | 2026-11-07 |
| How the COLA is calculated | One percentage is applied to every benefit, but it is measured from a specific index over a specific window. The 2027 figure is 3.6%. | 2026-11-07 |
| Why the wage base rises | The taxable maximum is not voted on and not tied to inflation. It is produced by a formula written in 1983 and applied each October. | 2026-11-07 |
| Two jobs, one wage base | Withholding is calculated payroll by payroll. There is no central ledger during the year, which is why the combined result can exceed the statutory maximum. | 2026-11-07 |
| SSDI vs SSI: two different programs | Both pay monthly benefits to people who cannot work. Everything else about them differs: funding, eligibility, medical rules, asset limits and what happens to the payment over time. | 2026-11-07 |
All pages verified 2026-11-07.