Social Security Beneftis

[LF_HHI]

Can you recommend a social security benefits calculator that will assist a couple in deciding when to start taking benefits, how or if to stagger start for each person, and what form of benefit should be taken? Thank you.

[carmen_t]

Hello,

Glad to help and send you some info to help determine how receiving social security benefits will impact your taxes.  I am going to send a tax estimator.  The tax estimator helps get a complete picture of the tax situation to estimate how your taxes will look like.  In addition, I will send an article explaining how social security benefits impact your taxes.  Additional info to consider is depending on your total income some or all of your benefits may be taxable.  The articles link below will explain a little more too.

Refund Estimator "TaxCaster" 

From Social Security Website "Income Taxes and Your Social Security Benefits" 

From Turbo Tax Website "How does receiving social security affect my taxes?" 

[TaxLadySusan · Accepted solution]

Please see Publication 915 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf.  Page 3 explains the taxability of your benefits. Page 3 explains the taxability of your benefits and there are worksheet you can use to calculate any taxable amount. 

There is a Social Security Benefits calculator at ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/ that will show you how much you may be entitled to, and the change in amount if you choose to take your benefits early.  There are also links on that page if you scroll down to the "Related Information" section that may help you decide your "when and if" questions. 

You can also go to our website: https://turbotax.intuit.com/ and click on the Resources tab to find our calculators.  Our TaxCaster Tax Calculator can help you determine your tax liability when you include SSA payments on the return.  You may want to consider whether or not you will still be earning income when you begin to draw your SSA as your total income will affect the percent of your Social Security that will be subject to tax.