When does the Additional Medicare Tax start in 2026?
It adds 0.9% for 2026, on top of the ordinary 2.9% Medicare rate, on wages and self-employment income above $200,000 for a single filer or head of household, $250,000 on a joint return and $125,000 filing separately. Only the amount above the line is taxed.
United States · federal · tax year 2026 · every figure from an open dataset with its source
The figures
| Filing status | Wages and self-employment income above |
|---|---|
| Single | $200,000 |
| Married filing jointly | $250,000 |
| Married filing separately | $125,000 |
| Head of household | $200,000 |
| Qualifying surviving spouse | $200,000 |
These thresholds are written into the statute and are not adjusted for inflation, so unlike almost everything else on this site they do not move each year — which means every year of wage growth pulls more people over them. Form 8959 adds wages and self-employment income together before testing them, so neither source escapes by being under the line on its own.
The joint threshold is not double the single one — $250,000 against $200,000 each — so two earners who are each comfortably under it can be over it together. An employer only starts withholding this tax once that one job pays more than the single-filer figure, whatever your actual status, which is why the balance so often appears at filing time rather than during the year.
Where these figures come from
Each row below is one line of our open dataset: the primary document the figure was read out of, the date it was read, and a link to the document itself. Nothing here was copied from a summary of a summary.
| constant | basis | source document | verified on |
|---|---|---|---|
additional_medicare_rate |
statutory | Form 8959, Additional Medicare Tax, rev. 2025 — the latest revision published, lines 7/13 | ✓ verified |
additional_medicare_thresholds |
statutory | Form 8959, Additional Medicare Tax, rev. 2025 — the latest revision published, lines 5/9/15 | ✓ verified |
Work out your own
Knowing the limit is half of it. These calculators apply the same figures to your numbers, in your browser, and show the working line by line.
The whole dataset
Every figure on this page, and everything around it, as a table you can read and as CSV and JSON you can download. Public domain, no attribution required.
Nearby answers
This is a reference table, not tax advice. Verify any figure against the linked primary document before relying on it.
