Retirement tax questions

You can enter retired as your occupation.  If you are receiving Social Security, be sure to enter your form under the 1099-SSA section, and any pension or retirement benefits in the 1099 sections under retirement income. Do not enter any information in the W-2 section.

Also, if your only income is Social Security and you are not married, you would only need to file a tax return if you received more than $25,000 in Social Security benefits as only half of your benefits would be counted towards your taxable income. This would put you below the filing threshold.  If you are not single, or have other taxable income then see below to decide if you need to file a return.  Either way, you can still enter all of your information into TurboTax.  If you have $0 taxable income, the program will give you an error message when you attempt to submit your return.  This means you do not need to file a return. 

"You will pay tax on only 85 percent of your Social Security benefits, based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules. If you:

• file a federal tax return as an "individual" and your combined income* is
  • between $25,000 and $34,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50 percent of your benefits.
  • more than $34,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.
• file a joint return, and you and your spouse have a combined income* that is
  • between $32,000 and $44,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50 percent of your benefits.
  • more than $44,000, up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.
• are married and file a separate tax return, you probably will pay taxes on your benefits.

Your adjusted gross income
+ Nontaxable interest
+ ½ of your Social Security benefits
= Your "combined income"

Social Security as Taxable Income