My wife works and has federal tax withheld from her paychecks. I will be receiving Social Security Retirement Benefits. We have already calculated that we will owe Federal tax on my Social Security Retirement Benefits. Social Security only allows me to request a percentage (7%, 10%, 12%, etc.) to be withheld from my Social Security Retirement Benefits. I cannot request Social Security to withhold a specific percentage and then also ask them to withhold an additional dollar amount (e.g. $40 in addition to 7%), like an employer can do on my wife's paycheck. MY QUESTION: If my wife had a set dollar amount deducted from her paycheck each pay period, with the intention of it covering the tax that I will owe on my Social Security Retirement Benefits, would the IRS charge us a penalty for not having this Federal tax deducted directly from my monthly Social Security Retirement Benefits. I keep seeing references to an INDIVIDUAL'S INCOME in all of the IRS literature regarding Federal tax withholding on Social Security Retirement Benefits? I don't know if the individual is required to have the tax deducted from their own income or if we pay enough Federal taxes throughout the year from the extra deduction from my wife's paycheck, if the IRS would not charge us a penalty. We would not owe the IRS anything when we file our joint tax return, if we do what I am proposing.
