Retirement & Eldercare

Tax Tips for Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits

Tax Tips for Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits

Whether you're receiving Social Security benefits as a result of having reached the eligibility age, due to disability or having retired makes no difference when it comes to how they are taxed. Unlike Supplemental Security Income benefits, which are never subject to taxes, the taxation of Social Security benefits is based on your total income and your marital status.

There are a number of calculations that come into play, which we outline below.

The first thing Social Security benefits recipients need to know is that if Social Security is your sole source of income, it is unlikely that they will be subject to taxation. Social Security benefits, which for the purposes of calculating tax liability are defined as the benefit prior to any deductions being made for Medicare premiums, are generally taxed in instances where the recipient is either married and filing separately or has significant additional income. In the case of people who are married and have lived with their spouse at any point during the year but who still file separately, there is an automatic tax liability on 85% of their benefits, no matter what other income they have. The goal of this tax is to counter efforts to reduce tax liability by reducing total reportable income on a tax return. This is similar to other actions the government has taken to discourage married couples from filing separately.

Calculating Whether Social Security Benefits are Taxable

Social Security benefits are generally taxable when they and other sources of income total more than the established base for the taxpayer's filing status. The base amounts are:

  • For married taxpayers filing jointly - $32,000
  • For single taxpayers, heads of household, qualifying widows/widowers with dependent children, and married taxpayers filing separately who did not live with their spouses at any time during the year - $25,000
  • For married taxpayers filing separately who did live with their spouses at any point during the year - $0

With these base amounts in mind, taxpayers should add half of their gross Social Security benefits to all of their other income. This is to include interest that is tax exempt and certain other items that are generally excluded from income, including employer-provided adoption benefits, foreign earned income or foreign housing income, interest from qualified U.S. savings bonds used for educational expenses, and income earned by bona fide residents of American Samoa or Puerto Rico. If the total amount exceeds the base listed above, the taxpayer's Social Security benefits are likely to be taxable, with taxpayers with significant income finding as much as 85% of their benefits are subject to tax.

Tax Planning to Minimize Social Security Benefits Tax Liability

Though there are strategies that taxpayers can use to eliminate or reduce their tax liability on Social Security benefits, the process can be complex. Some choose to defer non-Social Security income such as Individual Retirement Account (IRA) distributions. Before choosing to do this, taxpayers need to check their obligations under the required minimum distribution rules.

There are many people who may be missing out on being able to take tax-free withdrawals. These include those whose required minimum distributions aren't large enough to reach the Social Security tax threshold and those who aren't yet required to make withdrawals from their IRAs. The best way to determine what's best for you is to speak with a tax professional and ask for their guidance.

Gordon W. McNamee, CPA writes for TaxBuzz, a tax news and advice website. Reach him and his team at [email protected].

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Gordon W. McNamee

Gordon W. McNamee

Gordon W. McNamee is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) based in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Gordon W. McNamee can assist you with your tax return preparation, payroll, accounting and tax planning needs. <br /> <br /> 2021 is Gordon W. McNamee, CPAs 38th year in the profession. As as a former IRS agent (1984 through 1987), Gordon has been in public accounting since 1987. Gordon specializes in individual, corporate, HOA, trust, estate and payroll taxes. He also prepares financial statements and provides accounting & bookkeeping services. He enjoys making his clients feel at ease while providing a personalized professional service.

GORDON W. MCNAMEE, CPA
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