OASDI stands for Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program. It is often referred to as Social Security tax. The tax funds the Social Security program, which is administered by the Social Security Administration. Your OASDI deduction is found on your LES under the deductions tab/section. The deduction is 6.2% of your wages subject to OASDI.

In order to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, per a Presidential Memorandum issued on August 8, 2020, and Internal Revenue Service Notice 2020-65 issued on August 28, 2020, the OASDI tax withholdings of employees who met the wage threshold were deferred.
Presidential Memorandum link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/13/2020-17899/deferring-payroll-tax-obligations-in-light-of-the-ongoing-covid-19-disaster

IRS Tax Deferral Implementation:  https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/guidance-issued-to-implement-presidential-memorandum-deferring-certain-employee-social-security-tax-withholding

IRS Notice 2020-65: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-20-65.pdf
 

If your wages subject to OASDI were less than $4,000 in any pay period from the pay period ending September 12, 2020 through December 19, 2020, OASDI taxes on the wages in that pay period were deferred. Wages subject to OASDI are gross wages less Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB), Dental, Vision, and Health/Flexible Spending Accounts (HSA/FSA).

The OASDI tax deferral was effective for applicable employees beginning pay period ending September 12, 2020. If you had wages subject to OASDI of less than $4,000 in any pay period between the pay periods ending September 12, 2020 and December 19, 2020, the OASDI tax withholdings on those wages were deferred.

 No. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directed all Executive Branch Agencies to implement the tax deferral.  As such, no Payroll Providers, Departments/Agencies, employees or service members will be able to opt-in/opt-out of the deferral.

OASDI tax is set by law at 6.2% of wages that are subject to OASDI. Wages subject to OASDI are gross wages less Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB), Dental, Vision, and Health/Flexible Spending Accounts (HSA/FSA). A good reference on your LES is your Taxable Wages listed on the Summary tab in myPay.

Yes, if the premium pay increased wages (subject to OASDI) to $4,000 or above in any given pay period, the OASDI tax was not deferred in that pay period. The tax deferral is calculated on a pay period-by-pay period basis and as such, could vary based on whether the employee’s wages were at or above the wage threshold.

Yes. Per IRS guidance (as modified by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021), any Social Security taxes deferred from September to December 2020 will be collected from your wages between pay periods ending, January 16 and December 4, 2021.

The Social Security taxes deferred in 2020 will be collected from wages in 24 installments between pay-periods ending January 16 and December 4, 2021.

The amount of OASDI deferred in 2020 can be calculated using your final 2020 LES in myPay, by subtracting the OASDI year-to-date (deductions tab) from the OASDI year-to-date (benefits tab).

Also, beginning in January 2021, the Remarks section of your myPay LES will show the amount of 2020 deferred OASDI collected in that pay period, as well as the remaining balance to be collected.

If your pay rate increased in 2020, but your pay was still below the wage threshold for the deferral, the amount of deferred taxes increased along with the increase to your pay. If your pay increased in 2020 to exceed the wage threshold for deferral, then your taxes for the pay period(s) when your wages subject to OASDI exceeded the wage threshold were not deferred.

For example, if an individual received a promotion in November 2020 to $2,500 per pay period (still below the wage threshold for deferral), the amount of deferred tax would increase because the 6.2% Social Security tax would be calculated on higher wages for the remainder of 2020. However, if the promotion occurs in February 2021 there would be no impact on the amount of 2020 deferred taxes being collected in 2021.

If you separated or retired in 2020:
Given your separation or retirement in 2020, the Social Security taxes deferred in 2020 cannot be collected directly from your 2021 wages. The government will pay the deferred Social Security taxes to the IRS on your behalf, and you will owe DFAS for this repayment. Collection will occur through the debt management process. A debt letter will be posted in your myPay account in January 2021, as well as sent to your address of record via US Mail. The debt letter will provide instructions for repayment; payments can be made online via Pay.gov.
 
If you are planning to or have separated in 2021:
If you separate or retire in 2021, before the deferred Social Security tax is collected in full, you are still responsible for the remainder of your Social Security tax repayment. The unpaid balance will be collected from your final pay. If there are insufficient funds to collect the full amount, you may receive a debt letter with instructions for repayment.
 

No. The guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (as modified by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021), directs employers to withhold the 2020 deferred Social Security taxes evenly from wages between beginning January 1, 2021, and ending on December 31, 2021.

No. Pursuant to the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service Guidance, the deferral only affects your Social Security tax withholding on wages earned from September 2020 through the end of the calendar year 2020.

Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service guidance link:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-20-65.pdf

Your 2020 W-2 will be issued in January. Per IRS guidance, a Form W-2c (Corrected Wages and Tax Statement) for tax year 2020 will be issued for employees who have 2020 deferred Social Security taxes collected from wages during 2021. Employees impacted by the deferral will receive Form W-2cs for tax year 2020 after full collection has been made, likely in January 2022.  Note, a Form W-2c may not be required for employees who separated in 2020.

The issuance of this W-2c does not change the deadlines established by the IRS for filing your 2020 income tax returns.

The IRS has provided instructions (issued before the recent legislation extending the repayment period through December 2021) for employees receiving a W-2c due to the Social Security tax deferral. See https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/form-w-2-reporting-of-employee-social-security-tax-deferred-under-notice-2020-65 for more information.  Per the IRS instructions, if you had only one employer during 2020 and your Form W-2c (Corrected Wages and Tax Statement) for 2020 only shows a correction to box 4 to account for employee Social Security tax that was deferred in 2020 and withheld in 2021 pursuant to IRS Notice 2020-65, no further steps are required.
 

Per IRS guidance, if you had only one employer during 2020 and your Form W-2c (Corrected Wages and Tax Statement) for 2020 only shows a correction to box 4 to account for employee Social Security tax that was deferred in 2020 and withheld in 2021 pursuant to IRS Notice 2020-65, no further steps are required.

Please note, if you separated/retired in 2020, you may not be issued a Form W-2c.

If you have questions on tax filing, the IRS has provided instructions (issued before the recent legislation extending the repayment period through December 2021) for employees receiving a W-2c due to the Social Security tax deferral. See https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/form-w-2-reporting-of-employee-social-security-tax-deferred-under-notice-2020-65 for more information

More information will be provided, when it becomes available.

Federal and state income taxes are not impacted by this deferral. Your Federal and State income tax will be calculated in the same manner as it was before the deferral.

No. The OASDI amount collected/deferred does not impact wages used to calculate your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) contributions. Your TSP contributions will not be affected.