New Additional Medicare Tax rules
Guidance on the new additional Medicare tax. The IRS has issued final regulations on the new additional 0.9% Medicare (hospital insurance, or HI) tax that first applies for tax years beginning after 2012. This tax applies to individuals receiving wages with respect to employment in excess of $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly and $125,000 for married couples filing separately). Likewise, the Medicare tax on self-employment income for any tax year beginning after Dec. 31, 2012 is increased by an additional 0.9% on self-employment income which exceeds the same thresholds as apply for employees. The regulations cover many aspects of this new tax including the employer’s withholding requirement, reporting the tax on new Form 8959, and payment of the tax by self-employed individuals who also have employment income, among other items.
So if your income will be less than the above amount, then this additional tax will not be applicable to you.
