Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
New Member
posted May 31, 2019 6:23:07 PM

If I am age 69, receiving social security and still working. Do I have to claim social security on my federal income tax, when I file

0 20 11241
1 Best answer
Level 15
May 31, 2019 6:23:08 PM

Yes you must enter your social security benefits on your tax return. Depending on how much other income you have, up to 85% of your social security benefits are taxable. To enter them, click Search then type in social security income and click on the spy glass then click on jump to.

20 Replies
Level 15
May 31, 2019 6:23:08 PM

Yes you must enter your social security benefits on your tax return. Depending on how much other income you have, up to 85% of your social security benefits are taxable. To enter them, click Search then type in social security income and click on the spy glass then click on jump to.

New Member
May 31, 2019 6:23:10 PM

I thought that after age 68 you could earn up to 47,000 and not pay fed tax on social security? when did it change/ Also is there any age you can work (I earn about 35,000 annual pre tax) and not have to pay a tax on SS? Please Help me understand this. Blue

Level 15
May 31, 2019 6:23:12 PM

That is true.  There are 2 different things to know about social security. People get them mixed up all the time.

1. Your actual SS checks
If you are over full retirement age your actual ss checks won't be reduced. Otherwise they will actually reduce your payments if you make too much other income in the prior year.  See SS FAQ for working after retirement
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3739/What-happens-if-I-work-and-get-Social-Security-retirement-benefits">https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3739/What-happens-if-I-work-and-get-Social-Security-retirement-benefits</a>


2. Income Tax
For any age up to 85% of Social Security becomes taxable when ALL your other income plus 1/2 your social security reaches:
Married Filing Jointly: $32,000
Single or head of household: $25,000
Married Filing Separately: 0

New Member
May 31, 2019 6:23:14 PM

If I make under $25,000 in my job, do I still need to claim my SS income.  I am 64.

Level 15
May 31, 2019 6:23:19 PM

@pain&3689      Yes you still have to enter ALL  of your income on your tax return.
 Go to Federal> Wages & Income>>Retirement Plans and Social Security  (SSA1099 and 1099RRB) to enter your SSA1099.

New Member
Jul 15, 2021 4:48:40 AM

If I am earning 75k per year how much of my SS do I have to claim on my taxes?

Level 15
Jul 15, 2021 5:13:23 AM

@ljh055 

 

You MUST enter ALL the SS benefits listed on the SSA-1099 box 5  into  the TT program and the taxable portion will be computed automatically (which will be 85% at your income level).  Do not reduce the amount yourself or you will surely  get an IRS letter later with penalties and interest added.

 

What you should be more worried about is having enough withholdings  to cover the taxable portion of the SS benefits which you can do 3 ways :

 

1) have withholdings from the SS payments

2) have more withholdings from other sources like the paycheck

3) make quarterly estimated payments

 

Returning Member
Mar 1, 2022 10:22:54 AM

I have a friend who is 69 and collects SS not sure about his tax filing but claims he can make any amount of working earnings and it will not interfere with his benefits.  I am not so sure, and i don't want him to mess himself up. Any advice.

Level 15
Mar 1, 2022 10:33:26 AM

Right.  There are 2 different things to know about social security. People get them mixed up all the time.

 

1. Your actual SS checks

If you are over full retirement age your actual ss checks won't be reduced. Otherwise they will actually reduce your payments if you make too much other income in the prior year.  See SS FAQ for working after retirement

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html

 

2. Income Tax

For any age up to 85% of Social Security becomes taxable when ALL your other income plus 1/2 your social security reaches:

Married Filing Jointly: $32,000

Single or head of household: $25,000

Married Filing Separately: 0

 

 

Level 15
Mar 1, 2022 10:35:20 AM

He is correct ... it will not negatively affect his monthly  SS benefits but it could actually increase them.  He can work all he wants however depending on how much he makes in the "job" it could make more of the SS benefits taxable on the return.  

Returning Member
Mar 1, 2022 10:40:07 AM

so other words since he is 69, his checks will not be reduced, and he can make up to 32,000 and not have his income taxed at all.

 

Level 15
Mar 1, 2022 10:51:28 AM

Right not reduced.   Is he married?   The 32,000 = all his & wife's other income plus 1/2 of SS. If the total is under 32,000 then only the Social Security won't be taxed.  He may still owe tax on his other income.

Returning Member
Mar 1, 2022 11:08:03 AM

He is married and his wife receives spousal benefits based on his employment history, not sure if that will affect his amount if he returns to work.

 

Returning Member
Mar 1, 2022 11:10:42 AM

right now, all he collects is SS and his wife collects spousal benefits, which he claims as his money, and he says he can make 32,000 on top of that and not be affected.

 

Level 15
Mar 1, 2022 11:17:22 AM

Is your Social Security taxable?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/income/help/is-my-social-security-income-taxable/00/25600

 

IRS Pub. 915 on Social Security.  There is a worksheet on page 7.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf

Returning Member
Mar 1, 2022 11:22:25 AM

i have heard him say that he makes 3k with the money he and his wife receive and that is already at the 36k mark now, and then whatever he makes from his job on top of that, so i believe his money will be taxed at what percentage, time will tell. That is if they hire a man his age for a 24.00 dollar an hour job at Target.

 

Level 15
Mar 1, 2022 1:47:30 PM

Here is a good Social Security page we just found for taxes on your benefits
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html

 

New Member
Jan 29, 2023 4:33:30 PM

I want to know if I had to take a job to be able to pay my bills

and I was 69 and collecting ss do I have to claim my ss on my taxes

Level 15
Jan 29, 2023 4:36:56 PM

Yes ... if you file a return you must enter all the income including the SS benefits ... they can be up to 85% taxable depending on how much other income you have.   If 1/2 of your SS benefits + your other income = $25K ($32K married) or less   then non of the SS benefits are taxable.  

Level 15
Jan 29, 2023 4:37:56 PM

@etchofclass Yes, if you file a tax return you have to enter all of your income including your Social Security.   

 

Go to Federal> Wages & Income>>Retirement Plans and Social Security  (SSA1099 and 1099RRB) to enter your SSA1099.

 

 

You are past full retirement age so you do not have to worry about your benefits being reduced by earning wages by working, but some of your SS might be taxable depending on how much you earned.

 

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 2019 it was $17,640— for 2020 it was $18,240; for 2021 it was  $18,960.  For 2022 it was  $19,560    for 2023 $21,240)

 

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 6a and 6b of your 2022 Form 1040

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899144-is-my-social-security-income-taxable

 

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 $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