You do not say what your source of income will be when you retire. If you will be receiving Social Security then every year in January you will receive a SSA1099 which you enter on your tax return. If Social Security is your ONLY income then you will not have to file a tax return. If you have other types of income along with the SS, then you file a return that shows ALL of your income from each source. Depending on how much other income you receive, your Social Security might be taxable.
If you receive income from a pension or retirement account distributions (like an IRA or 401k) then you will get a 1099R in January which will have to be entered on your tax return. Retirement income is taxable on a federal return.
TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY
Up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can be taxable on your federal tax return. There is no age limit for having to pay taxes on Social Security benefits if you have other sources of income along with the SS benefits. When you have other income such as earnings from continuing to work, investment income, pensions, etc. up to 85% of your SS can be taxable.
What confuses people about this is that before you reach full retirement age, if you continue working while drawing SS, your benefits can be reduced if you earn over a certain limit. (For 2017 that limit is $16,920 —for 2018 it will be $17,040—for 2019 it will be $17,640) After full retirement age, no matter how much you continue to earn, your benefits are not reduced by your earnings; your employer will still have to withhold for Social Security and Medicare.
To see how much of your Social Security was taxable, look at lines 5a and 5b of your Form 1040
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899144-is-my-social-security-income-taxable
You need to file a federal return if half your Social Security plus your other income is $25,000 when filing single or head of household, or $32,000 when filing married filing jointly, $0 if you are filing married filing separately.
Some additional information: There are 13 states that tax Social Security—Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia. These states offer varying degrees of income exemptions, but four mirror the federal tax schedule: MN, ND,VT, and WV
Some states tax retirement income and some do not, or they tax only above certain amounts of retirement income. You have not said what state you are in.
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
