text: social security tax from my check? i am waitressing while in college and my first few checks had about $5 taken for social security while the last one had $35 taken even though i worked approximately the same hours.  what happened? social security is taken out based on your hourly earnings and tips.  you either reported your tips to your employer (as you are supposed to do every month) and your employer withheld money from your regular wages to pay for the ss on the tips, or your employer allocated tips to you (they do this when you don't report your tips) and took out money from your regular wages to pay for the ss on the allocated tips.