Thanks, yes that is fairly clear from the IRS Pub. (I am not sure what you mean by "rare adjustments that probably don't apply"? But I believe I have no line items from that list except for SS and the IRA contribution.) However TT is adjusting the number downward an additional large amount which I can't account for. By adjusting the modified AGI number further downward, TT calculates that our taxable SS decreases by more than twice the amount of my small IRA contribution, which seems questionable.
According to the TT "data source" help text for the Modified AGI on Worksheet 1 Line 1, it is using some other "special calculation" based on the fact that I also received an IRA distribution. It is not clear what that other calculation is but it is not the one you just described, and TT is not showing its work. My question is, where can I see the calculation TT is making? Or is this a bug?
(Perhaps I should have made the subject of my message "Figuring taxable Social Security with IRA contribution and IRA distribution" so my question would have been clearer...)
