topic Our joint Social Security income is $36,000. If I withdraw $5000 from my IRA is it taxable? in Retirement tax questions

Our joint Social Security income is $36,000. If I withdraw $5000 from my IRA is it taxable?

johnnyo30 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:18:57 GMT

Is the IRA portion of income taxable?

Re: Our joint Social Security income is $36,000. If I withdraw $5000 from my IRA is it taxable?

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:04:26 GMT

TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY

Up to 85% of your Social Security benefits can be taxable on your federal tax return. There is no age limit for having to pay taxes on Social Security benefits if you have other sources of income along with the SS benefits. When you have other income such as earnings from continuing to work, investment income, pensions, etc. up to 85% of your SS can be taxable.

What confuses people about this is that before you reach full retirement age, if you continue working while drawing SS, your benefits can be reduced if you earn over a certain limit. (For 2017 that limit was $16,920 —for 2018 it was $17,040—for 2019 it was $17,640— for 2020 it is $18,240; for 2021 it is $18,960, (For 2022 it will be $19,560) After full retirement age, no matter how much you continue to earn, your benefits are not reduced by your earnings; your employer will still have to withhold for Social Security and Medicare.

To see how much of your Social Security was taxable, look at lines 6a and 6b of your 2021 Form 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899144-is-my-social-security-income-taxable

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/are-my-social-security-or-railroad-retirement-tier-i-benefits-taxable

You need to file a federal return if half your Social Security plus your other income is $25,000 when filing single or head of household, or $32,000 when filing married filing jointly, $0 if you are filing married filing separately.

Some additional information: There are 13 states that tax Social Security—Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia. These states offer varying degrees of income exemptions, but four mirror the federal tax schedule: MN, ND,VT, and WV

Re: Our joint Social Security income is $36,000. If I withdraw $5000 from my IRA is it taxable?

SweetieJean — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:11:14 GMT

Yes, the IRA is taxable if it's a Traditional IRA.

Re: Our joint Social Security income is $36,000. If I withdraw $5000 from my IRA is it taxable?

Opus 17 — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:52:09 GMT

Is it "taxable income"? Yes. Will you actually pay tax? Probably not.

For married filing jointly, you have a standard deduction of something over $26,000 depending on your age. Your social security is tax-free unless half your SS plus your other income is more than $32,000. In this case, half your SS is $18,000, so you could withdraw up to $14,000 from the IRA and you would still be under the limit for SS to be taxable and also under the standard deduction for your IRA income to be taxable.

This assumes you have no other income except for the IRA and social security. And, the IRA might be taxable on your state tax return, depending on what state you live in. (Likely not, for that amount, but if you run Turbotax including your state, and you don't owe anything, you probably don't even have to file, and Turbotax would also be free.)