{"id":1081,"date":"2025-11-26T19:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T19:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2025-12-03T19:03:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:03:01","slug":"social-security-wage-base-and-cola-announced-for-2026-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/2025\/11\/26\/social-security-wage-base-and-cola-announced-for-2026-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Security Wage Base and COLA Announced for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Social Security Administration has announced important updates for 2026 that affect both workers and retirees. These changes include a higher wage base for Social Security taxes, adjustments to benefit limits, and a cost\u2011of\u2011living increase.<br><strong>Key Highlights for 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Social Security Wage Base: Increases to $184,500 (up from $176,100 in 2025).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OASDI Tax Impact: Employees and employers each pay up to $11,439 (an increase of $521).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medicare Tax: Remains at 1.45% for employees and employers, with no wage limit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Additional Medicare Tax: Still applies at 0.9% for high earners ($200,000+ individuals, $250,000 joint filers).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Self-Employment Tax: Continues at 12.4% up to the wage base, plus 2.9% Medicare tax on all net income.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>COLA Adjustment: Benefits increase by 2.8% starting January 2026.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Earnings Limits:<br>Retirees at full retirement age: $65,160 before reductions apply.<br>Younger beneficiaries: $24,480 before reductions apply.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maximum Monthly Benefit: Rises to $4,152 at full retirement age (up from $4,018 in 2025).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What This Means for You<\/strong><br>These updates increase the maximum taxable earnings for workers, adjust benefit limits for retirees, and provide a modest cost\u2011of\u2011living increase. Understanding these changes can help workers, retirees, and employers plan for 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.journalofaccountancy.com\/news\/2025\/oct\/social-security-wage-base-and-cola-announced-for-2026\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.journalofaccountancy.com\/news\/2025\/oct\/social-security-wage-base-and-cola-announced-for-2026\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Journal of Accountancy<\/span><\/a>, October 24, 2025, by Kevin Brewer<br>This summary is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. For authoritative guidance, consult<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/\">SSA.gov<\/a><\/span> or a licensed tax professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Social Security Administration has announced important updates for 2026 that affect both workers and retirees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1090,"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions\/1090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwsdemowebsites.com\/swiftlogic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}