NFL Referees Earn Six Figures Alongside Day Jobs. Two W-2 Employers Could Withhold Too Much Social Security Tax

Many NFL referees spend their fall weekends calling games while holding down full-time jobs as attorneys, engineers and college professors, Fortune reported October 16. Officiating alone can pay six figures, making these some unusually well-paid second careers. But two paychecks can also bring an unexpected tax problem.

Picture a hypothetical NFL referee we’ll call Dan. He earns a healthy salary officiating games and another paycheck from his weekday job. Both employers withhold Social Security taxes, and by late fall, he’s paid thousands of dollars more than he should have. Neither employer made a mistake. The money is his to reclaim, provided he knows where to look.

Each Employer Withholds as if It Were Your Only Job

The employee share of Social Security tax is 6.2%, and it applies only to wages up to an annual cap. The Social Security Administration’s 2026 fact sheet, which lists this year’s benefit and tax figures, sets that cap at $184,500 for 2026.

The cap applies to you as a person, but payroll systems only see their own employer’s wages. Neither of Dan’s employers knows what the other one pays him. Each employer must withhold Social Security tax until the wages it pays him reach the annual cap. Even if Dan earns enough from officiating to reach that limit, his other employer still withholds taxes from its own paycheck.

Running the Numbers on $225,000 of Combined Pay

Say Dan earns $205,000 officiating NFL games and another $150,000 from his weekday job. That’s $355,000 in combined wages. The NFL withholds the maximum $11,439 in employee Social Security tax, while his other employer withholds another $9,300.

Together, that’s $20,739 in Social Security taxes, even though the annual employee maximum is $11,439. Dan has overpaid by $9,300, money he can claim back when he files his tax return.

Here’s the part that surprises people. The extra tax doesn’t boost Dan’s future retirement benefit. When figuring retirement benefits, the agency counts earnings only up to the annual cap, so wages above that line add nothing to his benefit. The excess is simply an overpayment, and he should treat it that way.

How the Overpayment Comes Back at Tax Time

The IRS explains in its guidance on excess Social Security withholding that if you had more than one employer and too much Social Security tax was withheld, you may be able to claim the excess as a credit against your income tax. The IRS’s main individual tax guide, Publication 17, lists excess Social Security tax withheld among the payments that count toward your total tax for the year, and it points filers to the Form 1040 instructions for the details.

Federal law treats that credit as if it were income tax withheld from your pay. You claim it on the return for the year the wages were received. For Dan, the overpayment either cuts what he owes on his 2026 return or adds to his refund. No separate application is needed. It goes on the return he already has to file.

A single employer is a different story. If one employer withholds too much by mistake, you generally can’t claim it as a credit on your return. That employer is normally responsible for correcting it. The credit exists because two employers each did their job correctly and still over-withheld in total.

Medicare tax works differently. It has no comparable wage cap, so every dollar Dan earns from both jobs is properly subject to it. There’s no Medicare excess to recover this way, and he shouldn’t expect to see one.

Check Both W-2s Before Assuming the Money Is Gone

When the W-2s come, check each form’s boxes for Social Security wages and Social Security tax withheld. If Social Security tax withheld across both W-2s exceeds $11,439 for 2026, you may be owed a credit. Your Form 1040 instructions walk through the worksheet.

If you use tax software, enter both W-2s exactly as printed. The credit depends on the combined figures, and leaving off the second job’s form wipes it out. Paper filers should look for the excess Social Security line in the Form 1040 instructions rather than assuming the software or the IRS will catch it.

The decision worth making now, before year end, is whether to plan around the credit. Since it works like income tax already paid, some workers with two steady jobs ask a tax preparer about adjusting their income tax withholding so less extra money sits with the IRS until spring. Your situation can differ from Dan’s. A job change mid-year, a third employer, or a payroll error can change the math, so run your own numbers from your actual W-2s.

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