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Nothing about Social Security has changed. It can still be taxable. There is a new Enhanced Deduction for Seniors of $6,000 for each spouse 65 or older if you qualify. The income limit is 75,000 (150,000 Joint). That is listed separately on your return and is in addition to the Standard Deduction or your Itemized Deductions and is after any Social Security taxable amount on line 6b. The deduction for seniors will be allowed for 4 years, from 2025 through 2028. For Single the Deduction phases out at 175,000 For Joint the Deductions phases out at 250,000 See draft of 1040 Schedule 1-A page 2 part V https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s1a--dft.pdf Sch 1-A line 31 starts with your MAGI from line 3, which is the AGI on 1040 line 11b plus any income from form 2555 lines 45 & 50 plus form 4563 line 11.

Well if you only get SS it is not taxable.  I assume you are Single?  Your Standard Deduction would be 17,750.  So any income over 17,750 will be taxable.  If you take out more than  $9,500 from the 401K it may make some of your SS taxable.  

Why do you think there is no tax on Social Security?   There is a lot of misunderstanding out there----your Social Security is taxable income if you have enough other income from other soruces.  That has not changed.   Tax on SS has not been eliminated by the new tax laws. 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 2021 it was  $18,960.  For 2022 it was  $19,560  —  for 2023 $21,240)  For 2024, $22,320.  For 2025 it will be $23,400   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.  If you work as an independent contractor then you will pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare.   To see how much of your Social Security was taxable, look at lines 6a and 6b of your 2024 Form 1040   https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/are-my-social-security-or-railroad-retirement-tier-i-benefits-taxable   You need to file a federal return if half your Social Security plus your other income is   Single or Head of Household      $25,000 Married Filing Jointly                  $32,000 Married Filing Separately            $0   Some additional information:  There are 9 states that tax Social Security—Colorado, Connecticut,, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont  and West Virginia These states offer varying degrees of income exemptions, but two mirror the federal tax schedule: MN and VT.         IF YOU WANT TO HAVE TAX WITHHELD FROM YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS   https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/request-withhold-taxes https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4-v        

If you exceed 90% of your 2025 total tax liability, you are likely safe from penalties, even if your IRA distributions and tax payments don’t align perfectly with the quarterly schedule. This is because the IRS treats tax withholdings as if they were paid evenly throughout the year — regardless of when they were actually withheld. So even if you make a large withholding in December, it counts as if it were paid quarterly.   Like the IRS, the FTB treats tax withholding as being made evenly throughout the year. If you meet the CA Safe Harbor threshold using withholding from your IRA, you should avoid the CA underpayment penalty as well.   I would recommend that before the end of the year (and definitely before the January 15th deadline), confirm with your Vanguard custodian the total dollar amount of tax withheld on all your IRA distributions for 2025. Use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to check if you're on track.   @turbomjstax Thanks for the question!!    

@dev145  Thank you for your help for "TurboTax's Ask the Expert event" today.   I also have a question. If my pension amount is quite low (lower than $1000 per month), and my traditional IRA amount is also quite low, it is 6000 + bank interests (several hundred dollars), are the $6000 contribution and the bank interests taxable in the next year? And I plan to provide volunteering works in my community. The info and basic cost could be filed in schedule A, right?   Thanks a lot.

You may be required to make estimated tax payments if you have not had enough taxes withheld from your social security and pension income.   You must pay taxes as the income is earned throughout the year, either through tax withholding or quarterly estimated tax payments.  If you have not paid enough taxes when you file your tax return, you may be subject to a tax penalty for underpayment of taxes.   There are a couple of IRS rules to determine whether you are required to make quarterly estimated tax payments. Will you owe less than $1,000 in federal income tax for the year after subtracting total taxes paid and credits from the total amount of tax you estimate for the current year? Will your tax withholding be at least 90% of your total tax for the year or less than 100% of your total tax from your previous year's return?  (In the case where your adjusted gross income  from your previous year's return exceeds $150,000 ($75,000 if you are married filing separately), the 100% requirement increases to 110%). You must make estimated tax payments if you answered no to all of the above questions.   Individuals who earn at least two-thirds of their income from farming or fishing are required to make an estimated payment of two-thirds of the current year total tax amount or 100% of the previous year’s tax. The estimated tax payment deadline is January 15 of the following year.  If the return is filed and total tax paid in full by March 1, there is no requirement to make an estimated tax payment.     The IRS and TurboTax have calculators available to estimate your income, tax liability, total payments and recommended amount for estimated tax payments.   Estimated tax payment deadlines are generally:   1st Quarterly Estimated Tax Payment April 15 2nd Quarterly Estimated Tax Payment June 15 3rd Quarterly Estimated Tax Payment September 15 4th Quarterly Estimated Tax Payment January 15 of the following year If the deadline falls on the weekend or a legal holiday, the deadline is the next day that is not a weekend or legal holiday.   @jimdebmt 

It is correct that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 eliminated conversion reversals, which is what I addressed in the first answer I provided. Your second question was about taking a distribution, then giving yourself 60 days to decide what to do. The TCJA did not eliminate that strategy. I am posting this for clarity's sake, as I do not want others to think that what I had advised was no longer allowed per your AI search.

The money you leave in your 401K that is untaxed in your lifetime, will be taxed as ordinary income when your beneficiaries take the distributions.  How much tax they pay on it will be dependent on their tax situation, income level, filing status, age, tax bracket etc. etc. The rules are different if you're a spouse beneficiary or a non-spouse beneficiary. Thanks @Rjbmr for participating in this event.   Retirement topics - Beneficiary    

The IRS considers provisional income to be pensions, wages, interest (tax-exempt interest included), dividends and capital gains. Here's a link from the IRS for reference: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-reminds-taxpayers-their-social-security-benefits-may-be-taxable 

As I stated, part of the IRA distribution was post-tax money, but we neglected to account for that when filing the original return, and listed it all as taxable. Regardless, my concern isn't the tax law, but rather getting Turbotax Premier Desktop to account for the reduction in taxable income in the amendment.

Military retirement pay based upon years of service is taxable by the federal government.   Disability payments from Veterans Affairs based on disability rating is nontaxable.   According to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, “If you retired under a disability law (Temporary Disability Retirement List or Permanent Disability Retirement List), your retired pay will be fully non-taxable if your pay is calculated based upon your military (not VA) disability percentage and you meet one of the following conditions:” You were in the military on September 24, 1975 or Your military rating is combat-related. Based on the DFAS explanation and the information you provided in your question, it appears your military retirement income is taxable.   If your military retirement income allows you to earn income, you could then take advantage of contributions to a traditional IRA as long as your combined work income and military retirement income does not exceed the phase out level for your filing status.   In 2024 the credit phases out at $76,500 for Married filing Join and $38,250 for filing single.   If you own a home, you can itemize your deductions using mortgage interest, property taxes, state income taxes paid and charitable contributions as well as medical expenses above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. If those amounts added up exceed the standard deduction, your tax liability will be reduced.

FYI -  you need to determine the RMD for  IRA accounts and 401k separately.  Your IRA or 401k plan should  automatically send you a letter at the beginning of the year saying how much you need to take out.  Did she turn 73 in 2025?  She can probably log into her IRA account and see how much she needs to take by Dec 31, 2025 or  April 1, 2026 for a first year RMD.  If she waits until 2026 to take the 2025 RMD then she will have to take 2 RMDs in 2026, one for 2025 and one for 2026.          To determine the RMD you need to use the worksheet on 590-B starting on page 47 and the Life expectancy tables starting on page 50. You use the IRA balance on Dec 31 of the prior year. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590b.pdf  

I am 67, have no earned income and am supplementing SSA with savings and 401K.  My mother has lived with me for about 10 years in my home.  I claim her as a dependent.  My SSA is about $31,000 per year.  How much can I take out of 401K before I'm taxed?