A paving company has 24 employees, 15 with gross earnings of $355 per week and nine with gross earnings of $385 per week. What is the total social security and Medicare tax (in $) the company must send to the Internal Revenue Service for the first quarter of the year?

To calculate the total social security and Medicare tax for the company's employees for the first quarter of the year, we need to follow these steps:

### Step 1: Understand the taxes
- **Social Security Tax Rate**: 6.2%
- **Medicare Tax Rate**: 1.45%

These rates apply to each employee's weekly gross earnings.

### Step 2: Calculate the total weekly gross earnings for all employees
We have:
- 15 employees earning $355 per week.
- 9 employees earning $385 per week.

The total weekly gross earnings for all employees are:

\[
\text{Total weekly earnings} = (15 \times 355) + (9 \times 385)
\]

Let's calculate that:

\[
\text{Total weekly earnings} = 5325 + 3465 = 8790
\]

### Step 3: Calculate total gross earnings for the first quarter
The first quarter has 13 weeks. Therefore, the total gross earnings for all employees over 13 weeks are:

\[
\text{Total quarterly earnings} = 8790 \times 13 = 114270
\]

### Step 4: Calculate total Social Security and Medicare taxes
- **Social Security Tax**: The total Social Security tax is 6.2% of the total quarterly earnings:
\[
\text{Social Security tax} = 114270 \times 0.062 = 7074.74
\]

- **Medicare Tax**: The total Medicare tax is 1.45% of the total quarterly earnings:
\[
\text{Medicare tax} = 114270 \times 0.0145 = 1656.92
\]

### Step 5: Calculate the total tax due
The total tax (Social Security + Medicare) the company must send to the IRS is:

\[
\text{Total tax} = 7074.74 + 1656.92 = 8731.66
\]

### Conclusion:
The company must send **$8,731.66** to the IRS for Social Security and Medicare taxes for the first quarter of the year.

Would you like more details or have any questions?

Here are five related questions to deepen your understanding:
1. How would the tax amount change if one employee had higher earnings?
2. What would the total tax be if the tax rates changed for Social Security or Medicare?
3. How do tax caps on Social Security affect larger companies?
4. What would happen if the company had more employees with higher earnings?
5. How is Medicare taxed differently for high-income earners?

**Tip:** Always verify if there are tax caps for Social Security, as this could limit the tax for higher earners.

Learn how to calculate the total social security and Medicare tax for a company with 24 employees, using their gross weekly earnings. This problem involves calculating total earnings, applying tax rates, and summing up the taxes due for the first quarter of the year. Suitable for high school students and above.

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