Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year?

rayjacques — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:19:39 GMT

Re: Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year?

MinhT1 — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:50:30 GMT

Depending on your other income, Social Security benefits are either nontaxable or partially taxable.

Please read this TurboTax blog on the taxation of Social Security benefits.

Re: Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year?

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:54:04 GMT

The amount of your SS that is taxable depends on how much other income you received during the year----from continuing to work, pensions, other retirement distributions from IRA's, 401k's , etc.

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 2019 it was $17,640— for 2020 it was $18,240; for 2021 it was $18,960. For 2022 it was $19,560 — for 2023 $21,240) For 2024, $22,320.

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. If you work as an independent contractor then you will pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare.

To see how much of your Social Security was taxable, look at lines 6a and 6b of your 2023 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 11 states that tax Social Security—Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont These states offer varying degrees of income exemptions, but two mirror the federal tax schedule: MN and VT.

The tax laws for 2024 will change——for tax year 2024 Missouri and Nebraska will no longer tax SS

topic Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year? in Retirement tax questions

Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year?

Re: Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year?

Re: Why does our Social security taxable show less than what we collected for the year?