There is no reason to ask you if this is the first year of retirement. Whether or not SS benefits are taxable has nothing to do with what year they are received.
Perhaps what the IRS person meant was that if all you had was SS income, then it probably would not be taxable.
But it certainly would be taxable in the first year, if other certain conditions exist.
Perhaps the IRS person was referring to this:
"Sometimes people younger than full retirement age retire in the middle of the year and have already earned more than the yearly earnings limit. There is a special rule that applies to earnings for one year, usually the first year of retirement. Under this rule, you can get a full Social Security benefit for any whole month you are retired, regardless of your yearly earnings." See the SSA website.
But this does not mean that your SS benefits are not taxable, it means that your SS earnings in the first year won't be reduced because you are not yet old enough for normal retirement age.
[Edited 3/26/2020 9:33 am CDT - removed extraneous info]
There is no reason to ask you if this is the first year of retirement. Whether or not SS benefits are taxable has nothing to do with what year they are received.
Perhaps what the IRS person meant was that if all you had was SS income, then it probably would not be taxable.
But it certainly would be taxable in the first year, if other certain conditions exist.
Perhaps the IRS person was referring to this:
"Sometimes people younger than full retirement age retire in the middle of the year and have already earned more than the yearly earnings limit. There is a special rule that applies to earnings for one year, usually the first year of retirement. Under this rule, you can get a full Social Security benefit for any whole month you are retired, regardless of your yearly earnings." See the SSA website.
But this does not mean that your SS benefits are not taxable, it means that your SS earnings in the first year won't be reduced because you are not yet old enough for normal retirement age.
[Edited 3/26/2020 9:33 am CDT - removed extraneous info]