;why are social security non taxabale funds included in total income?

[MiriamF · Accepted solution]

Total income is not the same as Adjusted Gross Income, nor is it taxable income. TurboTax includes the nontaxable portion of Social Security just to let you know how much you took in last year.

On your tax return, your principal concern is the income included in Adjusted Gross Income, or AGI, since that is what is used in calculating your taxable income.

The portion of Social Security that is included in AGI is listed on line 14b of your 1040A or line 20b of your 1040. You can see how that compares with your total Social Security payments in Box 14a or 20 a respectively. In the desktop edition of TurboTax, you can click on the Forms icon to see what is reported on your 1040.

If that wasn't your concern, please write back about where you are seeing this total income.

[19usna57]

I'm using 1040SR and it shows SS benefits on line 5a and taxable amount on 5b, so the total income does not include total SS received.  Therefore line 7b shows total income as only the portion of SS that is taxable.  How does this get reflected in Turbo Tax.