My husband and my social security benefits was 41,172 for 2018 and they taxed 34,996. Did this change? I thought only 50% was taxable?

[DoninGA]

There has been no change in how Social Security benefits can become taxable.

Up to 85% of Social Security Retirement/Disability/Survivors benefits 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

[dmertz]

In this case you have a sufficient amount of other income that the full 85% of your Social Security income is taxable.

[Hal_Al]

Social security only becomes taxable when added to sufficient other income. If you are otherwise required to file a tax return, you do need to enter it in Turbotax (TT). TT will determine the taxable portion.

Social security (including SSDI) becomes taxable when your income, including 1/2 your social security, reaches:

Married Filing Jointly(MFJ): $32,000

Single or head of household: $25,000

Married Filing Separately and lived with your spouse at any time during the tax year: $0

After TurboTax (TT) calculates the taxable portion of SS, it puts the total amount of SS on line 5a of form 1040 and the taxable amount on line 5b (lines 20a & 20b in 2017). TT also produces a worksheet  to show how the taxable amount is calculated. Most people pay tax on 85% of their SS. 

For the first  $9,000 (12,000 MFJ), only 50% of your SS is taxed. After that 85% is taxed. And gradually the  50% taxed  is replaced with the 85%. It's the government; they make it complicated. See IRS Publication 915. When TT prints out your return, it will provide you with the  IRS social security worksheet showing you how the taxable amount was calculated.  Here’s a copy showing you how the calculation is done:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040gi--2018.pdf#page=33 (2018)