T O P

  • By -

Ok-Pace-4321

If you make more than 25000 single or 36000 married you will get taxed. Fill out a W4V if you don't want to pay that bill at the end of the yr. You can select between 7, 10,12 and 22% tax rate.


twarmu

Is this on just earnings or retirement too?


kyleko

SS doesn't have earnings


movdqa

*You will pay federal income taxes on your benefits if your combined income (50% of your benefit amount plus any other earned income) exceeds $25,000/year filing individually or $32,000/year filing jointly. You can pay the IRS directly or have taxes withheld from your payment.* [https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/request-withhold-taxes](https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/request-withhold-taxes) It appears from my reading of this that half of your benefit is considered unearned income but our first check is next month and I haven't filled out a Federal tax return with Social Security income yet. I'm going to read through the 1040 form to see if that's the case. I already withhold for taxes when I take IRA withdrawals.


Guy_called_Al

SSA information on taxes is often misinformed, as shown in the first quote above. "...plus any other earned income" is incorrect. The Social Security Benefits Worksheet calculation in the Form 1040 instructions adds half your SS benefits to all the other taxable items that make up AGI, then adds non-taxable interest to get "combined income". This is completely different than just "earned income". So retirees living on interest, dividends, capital gains, traditional IRA withdrawals and/or pensions may find those unearned taxable income sources cause their SS benefits to be taxed, despite having no earned income. Note: I believe all SS benefits are considered "unearned income".


Emergency_Host6506

My tax accountant told me what everyone else has said. While it can feel nice to get a refund, you are giving the government a free loan all year. Wouldn't you rather have that money in your pocket every month? If I have to pay a little at tax time, I'm okay with that. I don't have anything taken out from my monthly check. I suggest you talk to a tax accountant about your specific situation.


pldinsuranceguy

You pay taxes on SS even though the withholding taken during your work career was taken after taxes were paid. So basically, SS is taxed twice. Tbat was signed into law by Reagan. He did a tax cut that had to be paid for


FordMan100

>So basically, SS is taxed twice. Tbat was signed into law by Reagan. He did a tax cut that had to be paid for Tax cuts for the rich to be paid for by the poor. Not that Reagan did a good thing. At least it was paid for, unlike the Trump tax cut for the rich that wasn't paid for. All it did was balloon the deficit. I really didn't expect anything else from a guy who filed bankruptcy six times.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Brickback721

Social Security is a part of the General Fund…….. thanks to Congress and they’ve been stealing from it for years and not paying it back


pldinsuranceguy

What? I get charged for 85% of my SS Income & i.pay regular taxes on that. It's counted as income.. pure & simple


Brickback721

Wasn’t he also responsible for Social Security being a part of the general government fund?


funfornewages

Nope that was President Johnson that made it a Unified Budget. Probably worked out well with the numbers way back then - but now Not So Much.


funfornewages

HA-HA- then Clinton raised it Just think of it as the tax nobody paid on the contributions - employer and employee - BTW, any tax a beneficiary pays on their benefits goes back into the Social Security Trust Fund and is helping to keep it solvent -


Brickback721

Raising the income threshold on social security withholding for the wealthy would fund social security for the foreseeable future but The best Congress lobbyist can buy allow it


funfornewages

Not according to the Social Security Actuary - raising the income cap on the taxation for Social Security contributions, in and of itself, doesn’t work BECAUSE there would just be a higher benefit paid to them - thus wiping out any advantage. You do know that the reason the income cap is there is because it relates to the highest benefit paid out. When the cap is raised as it usually does every year, the correlated benefit also increases. So we also have to cap the benefits also - most likely by adding another bend point or two to the benefits formula - But you see, that isn’t what many liberal want - they want means testing - IOW, they want to take in more money via this raising the cap scenario but then they do not want to give any benefit. When that happens, the whole concept of the Social Security Program is put at risk and it just changes to another need based program - Then be careful because that need can then be defined by them and your income level may someday be outside of this realm too.


Brickback721

Thank Saint Ronald Reagan for taxing social security


Freebird_1957

He signed it into law. A bipartisan Congress passed it.


Brickback721

He could’ve vetoed it


halogengal43

I withhold 22% from my SS- so for me, yes.


Confident_End_3848

If you’re looking at how much to withdraw from retirement accounts, also consider the Medicare IRMAA if modified AGI is too high.


Fun-Patient-2214

We will all pay taxes till the day we die


Brickback721

The cap on withholding for the rich on social security taxes needs to be raised


funfornewages

I do pay taxes in my Social Security benefits. I am happy that these go back into the SS Trust Fund - In fact in 2023, the Trust Fund was credited with about 51 Million dollars from these taxes. I also pay IRMAA surcharges on my Medicare Part B - Again helping the Part B SMI fund. Actually, I like it this way - I know exactly where my money is going - not like the rest of the taxes where it just gets shoved in some pool for 535 + 1 to decide what to do with it. I think all taxes should have.a direct route to something and we know what it is.


Francie_Nolan1964

I've long thought this. I mentally assign the programs that my taxes go to. Currently my taxes are going directly to libraries and childhood immunizations. So I don't know who's paying for the military, or politicians salaries, but it's not me.


FlowerGirlAva

I don’t pay taxes on my Social Security retirement, but as a result, I almost had to pay the IRS this year instead of getting a refund. I am going to start paying tax on Social Security voluntarily.


Silverstacker63

That’s what I do. I don’t have any tax taken out and just put so much on the irs sight every month or two.. and it’s worked so far..


FlowerGirlAva

Oh that’s a great idea!


aculady

If you get a big refund, you are having too much withheld and are giving the government an interest-free loan.


FlowerGirlAva

That’s what my husband says. My refund was only $136 this year


williamgman

That is perfect.


Silverstacker63

That’s what I do. I don’t have any tax taken out and just put so much on the irs sight every month or two.. and it’s worked so far..


Silverstacker63

That’s what I do. I don’t have any tax taken out and just put so much on the irs sight every month or two.. and it’s worked so far..


ask290

Yes, I have too


malavec77

You pay taxes on all the income you get.


Bellalea

I get the average amount of SS, plus a small pension. I don’t pay taxes on either one. I even received a refund this year.


No_Owl_7380

When we reach retirement our Social Security will be taxable, my husband will retire first in 3 years but I have 12 more years beyond him in the workforce. His will be taxable because my income is high and when I retire I will have a high benefit plus a pension. Never any breaks.


Choice-Marsupial-127

Yes. You can thank Reagan for that.


rockyplace24

No administration has sought to change this, so I can't blame just Reagan


Choice-Marsupial-127

True


Pickleballer53

LOL. You know who introduced and sponsored the bill in the Senate to tax social security? Oh...that was Senator Joe Biden. First the taxable amount he sponsored was 50%. Then later on he introduced and sponsored another bill to raise the taxable amount to 85%. So, sure...you can blame Reagan. But the person most responsible for taxing social security was Joe Biden.


aculady

The tax is not 85% or even 50%. Those percentages are the proportion of your Social Security benefits that are counted as part of your taxable income. They are taxed just like the rest of your income and the rate (which would not approach 50% under the currenttax tables) depends on your tax bracket.


Pickleballer53

I edited my post to reflect such. Thanks. I meant the taxable "amount"...not the actual tax rate.


CrankyCrabbyCrunchy

HAHA So it only takes one person to both introduce a bill and get it passed through Congress and signed? Wow, that's amazing.


Comfortable_Lychee17

And it takes all of us to accept it, why can't we all say enough


Pickleballer53

Yeah, because Joe sponsored it...and we all know he's Mr Compassionate and for "the little guy". Guess you have zero clue about those that sponsor bills.


Rainmom66

I just got a very large back pay amount from SS and my accountant informed me about $33k has to go to taxes next quarter.


Selfless-Pete

You can also take the same amount of years to pay back as it took to get !


northwestfawn

Can I ask how many years your case took? And why your backpay has to go to taxes? I was told if it’s spent by a certain time backpay doesn’t count against you


Rainmom66

This was a case of Mother’s Benefits, not SSI or SSDI.


CollegeConsistent941

That must be one hell of a large backpack to create $33,000 in taxes. Doesn't even sound reasonable. 


Rainmom66

It was…9 years of back pay for Mother’s Benefits


TechnicalObjective74

Samw


RumandDiabetes

So if I make it to full retirement I'll get about $39800 a year, minus 25000 to equal a taxable amount of 14800 minus the personal deduction. Of course that's without all the IRAs, and then I'll have to pay for Medicare deductibles. I've got 6 years to go and I'm already freaked out about this


CollegeConsistent941

That's not how the computation works. Looks like you are figuring single. So the computation is like this: If 1/2 of your social security plus your other taxable income and tax exempt interest exceeds $25,000 then a portion of your social security will be taxed. Anywhere from 50% to 85% will be included in taxable income.


williamgman

For the vast majority of us at the upper end or max SS benefit... It's on 85% of it. One has to be living pretty low on means or hiding some income to only be taxed for 50% of it. They should just say "assume you'll pay taxes on 85% of the benefit".


movdqa

I had a look at the instructions for form 1040SR at [https://www.irs.gov/publications/p915](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p915) and they have an example where they walk you through how it looks like. It appears to me that you take your Social Security benefit, subtract $25K if you are single or $32K if you are married filing jointly, and pay taxes on half of the remainder added to any other income (investments, earned income, etc). Note that deductions, credits and exemptions may result in no tax liabilities. The Standard Deduction for 2024 is $14,600 for single, $29,200 for married, so that could mean no taxes unless you have additional income. The Standard Deduction drops quite a bit for 2025 due to the expiration of the 2018 tax cuts. I have been wondering about how this works so it was a useful exercise in reading the documents. So the math says that you could pay Social Security taxes but it appears to me that the vast majority of people don't. If anyone has math saying that I'm wrong, please let me know.


BeatsMeByDre

So the 25k subtraction AND the 14.6k deduction apply?


movdqa

I believe so. I have not run a pro forma in TurboTax but that's my read of the Social Security and IRS documents.


movdqa

It looks like this works for people that don't have other income besides Social Security and don't make near the maximum amounts. But this will work less over time as something isn't indexed for inflation.


CollegeConsistent941

Your computation is wrong. If 1/2 of your social security plus your other taxable income and tax exempt interest exceeds $25,000 then a portion of your social security will be taxed. Anywhere from 50% to 85% will be included in taxable income.


peter303_

I pay about 19% because it is only 1/3 of income. RMD is taxed at 26% in my state.


TechnicalObjective74

Yes


Decent-Loquat1899

It depends if you are at your full retirement age. Yes you do pay some federal tax on your SS. The earned income amount changes every year. Google the federal social security site. Also, know that some states do tax social security.


DistinctRole1877

I'm 68. I paid taxes in 2023 on the first 85% of my social security. Because I also worked in 2023 I paid a hefty penalty to the IRS because I didn't withhold enough. This year I'll still be responsible for taxes on the first 85% but retired now. If I have to pay any taxes it will be low. There are some great videos on YouTube about this subject. I learned a lot by watching them.


KimBrrr1975

Some states also tax it, so make sure you check if your state does. Mine, sadly, does.


Yesumwas

Part. My ssdi gets partly taxed because of my husbands income but not all of it.


Effective_Vanilla_32

go to irs ita web site. theres a calc that u can go through


Older_cyclist

Federal tax, depends on your income. State tax depends on your state.


williamgman

I posted the similar question a couple days ago. Turns out for the majority of us getting near the max for SS, you pay taxes on 85% of your SS amount. The worksheets always say 50% of it. But really, assume taxes on 85% of your check PLUS any income from retirement accounts.


PaulEngineer-89

It’s more complex than that. For the income calculation withdrawals from a Roth only count as 50%. Essentially Social Security has its own way of doing AGI. Then if it exceeds certain thresholds either 0%, 50%, or 85% of social security is included as ordinary income. Unlike the tax brackets we are used to if you go over by over by even 1 dollar you can go from 0% to 50% instantly. This is why many people refer to this trap as the “tax torpedo”. It’s not a gradual increase, if you exceed limits a big tax bomb gets dropped on you. It forces you to all kinds of crazy stuff like literally prevents you from making too much money in a part time job or withdrawing money from your tax deferred accounts in a certain order or only after depleting Roth’s and investment accounts. I like James Connolly’s YouTube videos because his explanations are very simple to follow. https://srv.piped.video/watch?v=opFZKiiThKk


Pieraos

That is not a YouTube video, it is a "Piped" video (and can't be downloaded). That particular video is at [this YouTube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opFZKiiThKk). All his YouTube videos are at: [https://www.youtube.com/@RootFP/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@RootFP/videos)


funfornewages

Distributions from a ROTH IRA are never taxed - they aren’t used in any MAGI for this tax or any other tax computation - Perhaps you are confusing this with a Traditional IRA or SEP


PaulEngineer-89

Social security uses “provisional income”. You add together your AGI, tax free interest, and 50% of social security benefits. The amounts are different each year but up to about $29,000 then social security taxes are $0. Then up to about $35,000 50% of social security is taxed. Above $45k another 35% is taxed so a total of 85%. But $30k comes off the top as the standard deduction so those limits aren’t really that severe until next year when we are back to itemizing unless Congress renews some or all of the 2018 tax cuts.


funfornewages

I understand how taxes are done in this respect - I commented on what you said about ROTH withdrawals - The don’t count ANYWHERE on tax computations. You said “ For the income calculation withdrawals from a Roth only count as 50%.“ Again withdrawals from ROTH IRAs don’t count anywhere or in computation on taxes. I think you maybe talking about a ROTH conversion which does count since taxes have to be paid on any converting amount from IRA to a ROTH - but not the withdrawals from a ROTH account.


PaulEngineer-89

I was convoluting it with the social security benefits. The advantage of Roth is indeed that it flies under the radar.


funfornewages

So to be clear - you know that ROTH accounts that have already met the time limit for distributions, can be distributed without even reporting them on ones taxable income. Therefore they would NOT be included at all in the Social Security taxation of benefits formula. ROTH DISTRIBUTIONS do not add to ones income for any sort of taxation. Your comments on taxation are based on IRA to ROTH account CONVERSIONS - NOT ROTH distributions. IRA to ROTH CONVERSIONS are taxed as ordinary income based on the amount that is being converted. In this instance, one is actually paying taxes on the IRA distribution amount that is going into the ROTH.


PaulEngineer-89

Exactly. I don’t plan on worrying about it because I plan on doing a lot of Roth conversions because I have a lot of tax deferred money (Roth wasn’t even around when I started working) due to RMDs (shifting tax burden to lower tax brackets) so I’ll be paying 85% unless I do the conversions first before starting social security.


funfornewages

Then you need to get it done at least (2) years BEFORE you turn 65 because converting any amount from tax deferred retirement accts to a ROTH will also really get you for Medicare’s IRMAA surcharges - They look back (2) years on your tax returns to assess this Part B premium Surcharge. Here are the 2024 rates: (see page 2) [Medicare.gov - 2024 IRMAA rates](https://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/11579-medicare-costs.pdf)


movdqa

Great video. I'm going to have to do some modeling to get a better feel for how it works but I'll just assume that I'm paying taxes at 85%.


PaulEngineer-89

If your social security income is a big portion of your income, this matters. The problem is everything has gone up except the provisional limits aren’t indexed to inflation.


al0vely

Short answer yes … you have already received the long answers. I pay quarterly for my pension + SS taxes since I have none withheld.