Question

During one pay period, your company distributes $130,500 to employees as net pay. the income tax withholdings were $19,000 and the fica withholdings were $5,000. the total wages and payroll tax expense to the company for this pay period, excluding any unemployment taxes, was:

Answer 1

Given:
130,500 net pay to employees
  19,000 income tax withholding
    5,000 FICA withholding

130,500 + 19,000 + 5,000 + 5,000 = 159,500

The total wages and payroll tax expense to the company for this pay period, excluding any unemployment taxes, is $159,500.

The 5,000 is added twice because the first 5,000 is withheld from the employees salary as the employees share. The employer also has to pay off 5,000 as employer's share to the employee's FICA withholding. Thus, the presence of the 2nd 5,000. 

FICA,  Federal Insurance Contributions Act, is composed of
1) 6.2 % Social Security tax;
2) 1.45 % Medicare tax (the “regular” Medicare tax); and
3) 0.9 % of a Medicare surtax starting 2013 for employees earning over $200,000.