Calculator: How Much of My Social Security Benefits Is Taxable?

Social Security benefits are 100% tax-free when your income is low. As your total income goes up, you’ll pay federal income tax on a portion of the benefits while the rest of your Social Security benefits remain tax-free. This taxable portion goes up as your income rises but it will never exceed 85%. Even if your annual income is $1 million, at least 15% of your Social Security benefits will still be tax-free.

The amount of the taxable Social Security benefits becomes part of your gross income on your tax return. It’s still subject to your normal deductions to arrive at your taxable income. You still pay at your normal tax rates on the taxable amount. 50% or 85% of your benefits being taxable doesn’t mean you’ll pay a 50% or 85% tax on your benefits. The actual taxation on your benefits is much less.

The IRS has a somewhat complex formula to determine how much of your Social Security benefits is taxable and how much is tax-free. It first calculates a combined income that consists of half of your Social Security benefits plus your other income such as withdrawals from your retirement accounts, interest, dividends, and short-term and long-term capital gains. It also adds any tax-exempt interest from muni bonds. This income is then reduced by a number of above-the-line deductions such as deductible contributions to Traditional IRAs, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, HSAs, deductible self-employment tax, and self-employment health insurance. Finally, this provisional income goes through some thresholds based on your tax filing status (Married Filing Jointly or Single/Head of Household). All of these are in Worksheet 1 in IRS Publication 915.

You can go through the steps in the worksheet to calculate the amount of social security benefits that will be taxable but the worksheet isn’t the easiest to use. I made an online calculator that helps you calculate much more quickly. You only give three numbers plus your tax filing status. You’ll have your answer by clicking on a button.

The calculator works for all types of Social Security benefits. It doesn’t matter whether you’re receiving retirement income benefits, disability benefits, spousal benefits, or survivor benefits as a widow or widower. It only applies to federal taxes though. Different states have different rules on taxing Social Security benefits. State taxes don’t necessarily follow the same rules as the federal government.

Note to email subscribers: The embedded calculator below doesn’t work directly in the email. Please click here to use it online.

function calc() { status = document.forms["SSTaxableCalc"]["filing-status"].value; ss = Number(document.forms["SSTaxableCalc"]["ss"].value); other = Number(document.forms["SSTaxableCalc"]["other"].value); adj = Number(document.forms["SSTaxableCalc"]["adjustment"].value); if (status == "MFJ") { floor = 32000; gap = 12000; } else { floor = 25000; gap = 9000; } income = Math.max(other ss / 2 - adj - floor, 0); above_gap = Math.max(income - gap, 0); half_gap = Math.min(income, gap) / 2; fifty_pct_tier = Math.min(ss, half_gap); eighty_five_pct_tier = above_gap * 0.85; taxable = Math.min(fifty_pct_tier eighty_five_pct_tier, ss * 0.85); tax_free_pct = 100 - taxable / ss * 100; document.getElementById("taxable").innerHTML = Math.round(taxable).toLocaleString(); document.getElementById("percentage").innerHTML = Math.round(tax_free_pct); document.getElementById("results").style.display = "block";}Tax Filing Status:Married Filing Jointly
Single or Head of HouseholdSocial Security benefits:Other income (including tax-exempt muni bond interest):Above-the-line deductions. These include deductible contributions to HSA, traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, and SIMPLE IRA, and deductible self-employment tax and self-employment health insurance.

$ of your Social Security benefits is taxable, which means % of your benefits is tax-free.

When more than 15% of your Social Security benefits is tax-free, additional income outside Social Security will make more of your Social Security benefits taxable, reducing that number toward 15%. Some people call this the tax torpedo, but it’s a misleading term. You actually still pay lower taxes than other people with the same income. See why that’s the case in An Unusually High Marginal Tax Rate Means Paying Lower Taxes.

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