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 basic pay.

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 Social Security tax withholdings of service members who met the wage threshold were deferred.
Note, the Social Security taxes are shown on Army, Air Force, and Navy Service Members’ Leave and Earnings Statements as “FICA-SOC SECURITY”) tax withholdings. The Social Security tax is labeled as “Social Security” on the LES for the Marine Corps.

 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 monthly rate of basic pay was less than $8,666.66 in any month from September to December 2020, Social Security taxes on the wages in that month were deferred. If your monthly rate of basic pay was at or above $8,666.66, your social security tax withholding was not affected by this temporary deferral.

The Social Security tax deferral was effective for applicable service members with a monthly rate of basic pay of less than $8,666.66 during any month from beginning September 2020 to December 2020.
 

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.

- The LES for Active Duty Air Force, Space Force, Army and Navy members lists the Social Security tax as “FICA-SOC SECURIT” within the deductions section.

- The LES for most Reserve or National Guard Air Force, Army and Navy members jointly lists the Social Security tax and the Medicare tax as “FICA TAXES” within the deductions section.

- For the Marine Corps this deduction is listed as “Social Security” on the LES.

Note, the Social Security and Medicare tax are generally calculated at 6.2% and 1.45% of basic pay, respectively. If a military member is contributing to the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), the calculation is slightly different. See the question on how to calculate the tax deferral within the FAQs for more information on the MGIB impact to social security taxes.

If your pay rate increased in 2020, but your pay was still below the wage limits for the deferral, the amount of deferred taxes increased along with the increase to your pay. You will be responsible for repaying the total amount of OASDI taxes deferred during 2020.  Collection of the deferred taxes will be in addition to regular tax withholdings from your 2021 wages, including OASDI tax for 2021, calculated at 6.2% of your wages.
 
 For example, if an individual received a promotion in November 2020, 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.  The total amount of tax deferred from September to December will be collected in 2021.  However, if the promotion occurs in February 2021 there would be no impact on the amount of 2020 deferred taxes being collected in 2021.

Due to differences in pay systems, application of the tax deferral process was different for most members of the Reserves and National Guard in the Army, Air Force, or Navy.  For these members, if they were eligible for the tax deferral (per the wage threshold), their initial net pay did not have the Social Security taxes deferred. The Social Security taxes were refunded in a separate pay transaction, typically within four business days from the initial payment; resulting in an additional Leave and Earnings Statement in MyPay with an entry labeled “Other Credits” in the Entitlements section, reflecting the refunded Social Security tax amount. Additionally, there was a comment in the Remarks section at the bottom of the LES stating “FICA REFUND.”

Yes. Per IRS guidance (as modified by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021), any Social Security taxes deferred September to December 2020 will be collected from your mid-month and end-of-month wages between January and December 30, 2021.

For active duty military members, the 2020 deferred Social Security taxes will be collected in 24 installments, from your mid-month and end-of-month pay between January 1 and December 30, 2021.

For reservists and guardsmen performing intermittent duty in 2021, the amount collected may not be the same every pay period. DFAS will collect 2% of net available from each weekly, mid-month and end-of-month pay, and will continue until the deferred taxes have been repaid in full.

Beginning in January 2021, your LES within myPay will reflect the monthly collection amount and contain a note in the remarks section that shows the remaining balance of deferred Social Security taxes. If you would like to calculate the amount prior to your January LES becoming available, you can generally do so by multiplying 6.2% times the amount of basic pay received from September through December 2020. 

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. You will receive a debt letter via US mail which 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, 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.

Generally, you can multiply your basic pay received in any given month by .062 (6.2%) to calculate your social security tax liability for that month. Repeat this each month, September through December, to determine the total amount of deferred taxes that will be collected in 2021.   Note:  If you made Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) contributions, your social security tax liability is reduced and is calculated slightly different.

An example of each calculation (without MGIB contributions and with MGIB contributions) is outlined below:

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.

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 service members 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.

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

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.

No. Service members pay social security tax on earned income. Since military retirement is a pension and not considered earned income, it is not affected by the deferral.