Dependent upon your other income, up to 85% of your social security can become taxable. You will see below how to figure if you have taxable social security, or you can visit IRS.gov and use the Interactive Tax Assistant tool.
Tax Formula. Here’s a quick way to determine if you must pay taxes on your Social Security benefits: Add half of the Social Security income to all other income, including tax-exempt interest. Then compare that amount to the base amount for your filing status. Some benefits may be taxable if the total is more than the base amount.
Base Amounts. The three base amounts are:
- $25,000 – if taxpayers are single, head of household, qualifying widow or widower with a dependent child or married filing separately and lived apart from their spouse for all of the tax year
- $35,000 – if they are married filing jointly
- $0 – if they are married filing separately and lived with their spouse at any time during the year