<prompt> Human: I am employed by a large university in the USA and paid on a 9 month academic schedule. I received an email from HR yesterday that they would garnish each of my four remaining biweekly checks for the academic year because the school has not been withholding FICA or Medicare for me. In other words, I will be paying all of 2016 YTD FICA and medicare owed over the next four checks. Thats a pain, but not what really worries me. What really worries me is that Ive been in this position for 2.5 years, and I have just verified by going into old pay stubs that FICA and medicare have never been withheld for me, going back to Fall 2014. This means that Im going to end up owing for Fall and Winter 2014, and for all four quarters of 2015 as well. What do I need to do to make sure this is taken care of? The HR person is out of the office until Monday, so I have no guidance here. Do I need to contact the Social Security Administration about the missing quarters? Do I need to hire a lawyer? Do I need to refile my taxes for previous years? EDIT: An additional Question Am I personally liable for the money owed for previous tax years? I just found the following d In collecting employee tax, the employer shall disregard any fractional part of a cent of such tax unless it amounts to one-half cent or more, in which case it shall be increased to 1 cent. The employer is liable for the employee tax with respect to all wages paid by him to each of his employees whether or not it is collected from the employee. If, for example, the employer deducts less than the correct amount of tax, or if he fails to deduct any part of the tax, he is nevertheless liable for the correct amount of the tax. Until collected from him the employee also is liable for the employee tax with respect to all the wages received by him. Any employee tax collected by or on behalf of an employer is a special fund in trust for the United States. See section 7501. The employer is indemnified against the claims and demands of any person for the amount of any payment of such tax made by the employer to the district director.  <response>: You need to speak with your HR or payroll department because you and the company will BOTH contribute to your SS Medicare Employer and employee share so most likely, they will amend payroll reports filed and W2s filed and pay their share of your FICA taxes. The company screwed up, but you dont need to get a lawyer involved here. This wont affect the refund youve received in the past if you did get a refund but if I were you, Id amend me returns to show that medicare and social security really were withheld. That way, when you actually retire many many years from now, there wont be a problem with your social security 