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Social Security Retirement/Disability/Survivors benefits are reported on a form SSA-1099 and the benefits received are to be entered on a federal tax return. The benefits may be taxable depending on the amount of other income you have entered on your tax return.
However, if the Social Security benefits is the Only income to be reported on the tax return and there is no federal income taxes being withheld, then there is no reason or need to file a tax return..
Unless you also received a Form 1095-A for your health insurance through one of the State Marketplace Exchanges or from healthcare.gov then you must file a tax return.
Up to 85% of Social Security Retirement/Disability/Survivors benefits becomes taxable when all your other income plus 1/2 your social security reaches:
If your only income is Social Security, you do not need to file a tax return unless you have a 1095A for having marketplace health insurance. Do you have other income besides Social Security? You can have federal tax withheld from your Social Security if you want to.
How to get federal tax withheld from SS benefits
https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxwithold.html
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) For 2024, $22,320.
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 2023 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 11 states that tax Social Security—Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont These states offer varying degrees of income exemptions, but two mirror the federal tax schedule: MN and VT.
The tax laws for 2024 will change——for tax year 2024 Missouri and Nebraska will no longer tax SS
The short answer is that if social security is your only income, it is not taxable and you do not have to pay quarterly taxes.
If you have other income, that will be taxable, and your social security may also become taxable. In that case, you either need withholding from your other income (like a pension or 401k), or you need withholding from social security, or you need to make estimated payments.
You can use this tool to estimate your tax bill and withholding needs.
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