How do multiple employers avoid overpaying social security?

Question

As an employee, if I have jobs with multiple employers, I can have too much social security withheld in a year. Example: if I have two jobs, each paying over $160,200 (in 2023) then each will withhold the maximum $9932.40 (= 6.2% of $160,200). My social security withholding is 2X what it needs to be. Inconvenient but I get the overage back at tax time: the IRS includes that in the total federal tax I've paid, so it reduces what I need pay at tax time, or increases the size of my refund. All good.

How does this same scenario work for employers? Employers pay the same amount in social security as employees. So in the scenario above, employer 1 pays $9932.40 and employer 2 also pays $9932.40. Can employers recoup the "overage" they've paid? (The key point here is I don't know if that's considered an overage under the law). My common-sense idea is they'd each get back 50% of what they paid. In a more complex scenario (several employers, each withholding different amounts) then it would be pro rata by what % of the total (employer-side) social security contributions each employer made for the same employee in that tax year. But of course common sense often doesn't apply with taxes.

Answer 1

NAL: My understanding is this: the employer portion is per-employer, and the employee portion is per-employee. So you can recoup your overpaid social security because you met your obligation (you are still one employee no matter how many jobs you have), but employers cannot because they are each obligated to pay that certain percentage, even if another is paying the same (as they are both obligated to pay that as they are two separate employers). In your example, employer 1 and employer 2 have separate social security tax obligations of $9932.40 because of your employment with them, and so neither of them actually overpaid.