What Is OASDI on My Paystub? (2026 Guide With Real Numbers)

The Short Answer

OASDI on your paystub stands for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance — the formal name for the Social Security tax. Your employer withholds 6.2% of your gross wages and sends it to the Social Security Administration. Your employer pays a matching 6.2% on top. If you are self-employed, you pay the full 12.4% yourself through SECA tax.

In 2026, OASDI is collected on the first $176,100 of wages. Anything above that is exempt.

Where the Money Actually Goes

OASDI funds three separate Social Security programs. Every dollar withheld from your paycheck pays out benefits in the same month to:

• Retired workers and their spouses (the largest share, about 76%)
• Survivors of deceased workers — widows, widowers, and dependent children
• Disabled workers who can no longer earn an income

This is a pay-as-you-go system. The OASDI deducted from your stub today is not sitting in a personal account with your name on it — it is being paid out to current beneficiaries. Your future benefits will be funded by the workers earning paychecks at that time.

How to Verify Your OASDI Withholding Is Correct

Pull out your most recent pay stub and do this math:

1. Find your gross pay for the period (top of the stub, before any deductions).
2. Multiply by 0.062.
3. Compare to the OASDI / Social Security / SS Tax line on your stub.

If those numbers match within a cent or two of rounding, your employer got it right. If they do not, the most common causes are pre-tax deductions that reduce OASDI wages (traditional 401(k) does not; Section 125 health insurance and HSA contributions do).

Real example

What If You Earn More Than $176,100?

Once your year-to-date wages cross the 2026 wage base of $176,100, OASDI withholding stops for the rest of the year. Medicare tax (the 1.45% Medicare line, sometimes shown as MED or FICA-HI) keeps going with no cap.

This is why high earners see their take-home pay jump in November or December — OASDI shuts off mid-stub. Your generator should handle this automatically; if you build a stub manually for a high earner, watch for it.

OASDI vs FICA vs Social Security — Are These All the Same Thing?

Almost. Here is the actual relationship:

• FICA = Federal Insurance Contributions Act, the law that authorizes the withholding.
• OASDI = the Social Security portion of FICA (6.2%, capped).
• Medicare = the other FICA portion (1.45%, no cap, plus 0.9% Additional Medicare on wages over $200,000).

So "FICA tax" usually means OASDI + Medicare together. If your paystub combines them into one line called FICA, that line is 7.65% of wages up to the cap.

What Self-Employed Workers Pay Instead

If you are 1099 / sole prop / LLC pass-through, OASDI does not show up on a paystub — there is no W-2 employer. Instead you owe SECA (Self-Employment Contributions Act) when you file Schedule SE:

• 12.4% OASDI on net self-employment earnings up to $176,100
• 2.9% Medicare on all net self-employment earnings
• Half of this is deductible on your 1040 as an "adjustment to income"

When generating a self-employment pay stub for proof of income, most lenders want to see SECA itemized exactly this way, not hidden in one "self-employment tax" line.

Common Reasons Your OASDI Looks Wrong

• You changed jobs mid-year and crossed the wage base across two employers. Each employer caps independently, so you over-withhold. You claim it back as a credit on Form 1040, line 11.
• You have multiple W-2 jobs. Same problem, same fix.
• Religious exemption (Form 4029). Members of recognized religious sects can opt out.
• Certain student workers, state employees, and railroad workers are exempt or covered by alternate systems.

Bottom Line

OASDI is the most predictable line on your paycheck: gross pay × 6.2% up to $176,100 in 2026. If your stub does not show it, you are either over the cap, exempt, or — more likely — looking at a stub built by a generator that skipped it. Real US paystubs always show OASDI or a combined FICA line.

Need a stub that calculates OASDI, Medicare, and federal withholding accurately for 2026? Create one with PayStub LLC in under five minutes.