Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax, also known as Social Security and Medicare tax, is required to be paid on employment and self-employment income. Current rates can be found here and the maximum earnings to which social security tax is applied can be found here. Generally, FICA tax is withheld from each paycheck and the employer pays the same amount in addition and is meant to provide benefits for retired workers and their dependents as well as for disabled workers and their dependents.
There are two exemptions to the FICA tax:
NRA FICA Exemption
Exemption 3121(b)(19) applies to an non-resident alien employee in F-1, J-1, M-1, Q-1, or Q-2 status while the employee is engaged in authorized employment. This means that as long as the employee is authorized to work (this includes working with OPT or CPT at an employer that is not the College or Institute) and is still a non-resident alien, no social security or medicare tax needs to be withheld from pay.
Student FICA Exemption
To be exempt under 3121 (b)(10), an individual has to be primarily a student working for Middlebury College or the Institute no matter which nationality. Thus a foreign national who becomes a resident alien can still benefit from this rule.
Last Updated: April 21, 2009