There's a set of payroll taxes that your employer pays out of its own pocket, on top of what it pays you. They don't come out of your check, they don't appear on your paystub, and you don't owe them. They're a cost of employing you that lands entirely on the company.
This confuses people, especially the FICA match. You see 7.65% come out of your check for Social Security and Medicare and assume that's the whole tax. It isn't — it's half.
The employer's FICA match
For every dollar of Social Security and Medicare that comes out of your paycheck, your employer pays the same amount. You pay 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare — 7.65% total. Your employer matches it dollar for dollar: another 6.2% and another 1.45%.
Add it up and 15.3% of your wages goes into Social Security and Medicare. You pay half and see it on your stub. Your employer pays the other half and you never see it. (The one exception: the extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages over $200,000 is employee-only — your employer does not match that piece.)
This is also why self-employed people feel it at tax time. A self-employed person is both worker and employer, so they owe the whole 15.3% themselves — same tax, no employer covering the other half.
FUTA and SUTA — unemployment taxes
Two more taxes fund unemployment insurance, and both are employer-only:
- FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax) — the federal side, an effective 0.6% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages.
- SUTA (State Unemployment Tax) — the state side. Rates and wage bases vary by state, and an employer's rate depends partly on its own layoff history.
You'll never see FUTA or SUTA on a paystub. In almost every state, employees pay nothing toward unemployment — the whole cost is the employer's. (A few states collect a small employee unemployment contribution, which would show up separately if it applied to you; it is not FUTA or SUTA.)
Why none of this is on your stub
Your paystub shows what came out of your wages. Employer-paid taxes don't come out of your wages, so they have no line to appear on. They're the company's expense, calculated on your pay but paid separately to the government.
So no — you don't owe the employer's half of FICA, and you don't owe FUTA or SUTA. If you're trying to reconcile your paystub, the only taxes that are yours are the ones listed in the Taxes section: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and state or local tax where they apply. Everything the employer pays happens off your stub.
Related: Read your paystub line by line · Federal income tax withholding · Gross pay vs. net pay.