Last year we had $40,140 from SS with no distribution from IRA. We paid 0 taxes. How much can I take from IRA this year before I start getting taxed with SS being same?

It is hard to give you an exact dollar amount, but you can play around in the program and then abandon the return. It would depend if you take the standard deduction or itemize or if you might have some other income this year.

A quick way to find out if any of your benefits may be taxable is to add one-half of your Social Security benefits to all your other income, including any tax-exempt interest. Next, compare this total to the base amounts below. If your total is more than the base amount for your filing status, then some of your benefits may be taxable.

The three base amounts are:

• $25,000 - for single, head of household, qualifying widow or widower with a dependent child or married individuals filing separately who did not live with their spouse at any time during the year
• $32,000 - for married couples filing jointly
• $0 - for married persons filing separately who lived together at any time during the year

@rdegeline 

...a big BUT...though.

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IF you really are using the "Online" software. 

IF you've already filed your 2019 tax returns, do not touch your 2019 tax file in that Online account or you will destroy your 2019 tax file.  Use a new separate Online account.

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IF you are instead using the "Desktop" software, just save your 2019 tax file to a second Test filename with Save-As...then you can fool around in that new test file all that you want and use your already entered 2019 data as the starting point

Coleen~~

Thank you so much for replying!  😎

if your only income reported on your tax return is social security, you will not pay any taxes if there is no reportable income to combine it with.

Dave~~

Thanks for your reply.

I am wondering if my SS stays the same for 2020 AND I take an unexpected withdrawal from IRA, how much can I take before being taxed.  We are married filing joint.

• Tax Formula.  Here’s a quick way to find out if a taxpayer must pay taxes on their Social Security benefits: Add one-half of the Social Security income to all other income, including tax-exempt interest. Then compare that amount to the base amount for their filing status. If the total is more than the base amount, some of their benefits may be taxable.
   
• 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 2016
  • $32,000 – if they are married filing jointly
  • $0 – if they are married filing separately and lived with their spouse at any time during the year