Both my wife and I received checks from SSA in April for a payout of the Social Security Fairness Act. Is this considered a lump sum payout?

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
January 8, 2026
2 replies
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TurboTax Online

Best answer by rjs

I think your SSA-1099 forms will show the payout as a lump-sum payment for 2024. If so, you might benefit from using the lump-sum election. When you enter the SSA-1099 forms in TurboTax, tell TurboTax that's it's a lump-sum payment and go through the lump-sum questions. TurboTax will determine whether the lump-sum election saves you money, and will use it if it does save money.

DoninGA

Level 15

Yes, that would be a lump sum payment.

This lump-sum payment is generally considered taxable income for the year you receive it, not the year it was due.

rmorganaviationAuthor

Level 2

Donna, Thanks much for the quick response. Based on your answer, those checks are taxable in 2025. The question on turbotax is " Did we receive a lump sum payout in 2025". How do we answer this since the dollar amount shown in the 1099 for 2025 shows the lumpsum amount which was paid for 2023 and 2024. Ron

DoninGA

Level 15

@rmorganaviation When asked if you had a lump sum payment in 2025 you would answer yes if the payment is shown in box 3 of the SSA-1099 you receive from the Social Security Administration.