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W-2 Box 4: Social Security Tax Withheld (2025)

Updated October 17, 2026. Quick answer: Box 4 of Form W-2 shows the employee share of social security tax your employer withheld, including social security tax on tips. For 2025 the employer instructions say the amount should not exceed $10,918.20. The Notice to Employee explains what to do if more than that was withheld because you had more than one employer.

Schedule 3 (Form 1040) for 2025, read line by line: Schedule 3 line 4 and Schedule 3 line 11.

What box 4 reports

The employer instructions define the box this way: “Show the total employee social security tax (not your share) withheld, including social security tax on tips.” Two points follow for the person reading the form. First, the box holds only your share. Second, it includes social security tax withheld on tips, so an employee who reports tips will see tax withheld on both the wages in box 3 and the tips in box 7 added together in box 4.

The instructions also limit the year: “Include only taxes withheld (or paid by you for the employee) for 2025 wages and tips.” This page is the box 4 explainer. The related wage box is described on the box 3 page, and the whole set of boxes is on the W-2 boxes 1 to 8 guide.

The 2025 ceiling and how box 3 relates

The instructions give an upper bound for the box: “For 2025, the amount should not exceed $10,918.20 ($176,100 × 6.2%).” That is a formula, so it can be checked. As an illustration, not an IRS example: $176,100 × 6.2% = $10,918.20. The number $176,100 is the wage base, which the employer instructions give in the box 7 paragraph as “the maximum social security wage base for 2025”. A later wage base is tracked on the social security wage base page.

Box 3 is the pay on which this tax is figured: “Show the total wages paid (before payroll deductions) subject to employee social security tax but not including social security tips and allocated tips.” The relationship is the one the instructions describe and no more: box 3 is the wage side, box 7 holds the reported tips, and box 4 is the tax withheld, with tips included. The three wage boxes are compared on the box 1 vs box 3 vs box 5 comparison.

If your employer paid your share

The box is defined as the employee’s share, but the instructions anticipate a case where the employer pays it instead of deducting it: “If you paid your employee’s share, see Employee’s social security and Medicare taxes (or railroad retirement taxes, if applicable) paid by employer.” If your pay stubs never showed a social security deduction, ask your payroll department whether that arrangement applies to you, and read box 4 and box 3 together with that answer.

A short checklist helps when the number looks off. Compare box 4 with the year-end pay stub, confirm the tax year on the form matches the year you are filing, and look at box 7 if you reported tips. If a figure still seems wrong, the Notice to Employee describes the route for fixing a money amount, which is a request to your employer for a corrected form. The related income tax box is described on the box 2 page.

More than one employer: the excess-tax notice

The Notice to Employee on the back of Copy B speaks directly to this situation: “If you had more than one employer in 2025 and more than $10,918.20 in social security and/or Tier 1 railroad retirement (RRTA) taxes were withheld, you may be able to claim a credit for the excess against your federal income tax.” It then sends you onward: “See the Form 1040 instructions.”

Two forms can each show a box 4 amount below that figure while the two together go over it. As an illustration, not an IRS example: one employer withholds $7,000 and a second withholds $6,000 (so the combined box 4 amounts are $7,000 + $6,000 = $13,000), which is $13,000 minus $10,918.20 = $2,081.80 above the figure in the Notice. Whether and how much credit applies is for the Form 1040 instructions to decide.

Edition and box numbers

The primary read for this page is the 2025 edition of Form W-2, the Wage and Tax Statement an employee receives in early 2026 for tax year 2025. That includes the Notice to Employee and the Instructions for Employee printed on the copies, together with the 2025 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3. The form itself is headed “Wage and Tax Statement 2025”. The 2026 edition was the one irs.gov served as current on 2026-10-17, and it was read side by side for comparison. The wording of box 4 is the same in both editions except for the year and the figure. The 2026 instructions read “For 2026, the amount should not exceed $11,439 ($184,500 × 6.2%).” The 2026 form’s Notice to Employee carries the matching number: “more than $11,439.00 in social security and/or Tier 1 railroad retirement (RRTA) taxes were withheld”. As an illustration, not an IRS example: $184,500 × 6.2% = $11,439. The excess-credit notice is present in both editions. Check the tax year printed on the form you received, because the box numbers on this page are the ones on the 2025 and 2026 forms and your copy may be a different year.

Common mistakes

  • Expecting box 4 to match box 1. It is a tax amount tied to social security wages, and the instructions say it is “the total employee social security tax”.
  • Ignoring a second job. The Notice says “you may be able to claim a credit for the excess against your federal income tax”.
  • Assuming a 2026 number applies to a 2025 form. The 2025 instructions say “For 2025, the amount should not exceed $10,918.20”.

Related: the social security wage base, Form 1040, self-employment tax, and the box 12 codes.

Sources

Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.

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