Income tax bracket for retired and recipient of social security

Fay Bales · ‎October 30, 2024

If I am a social security recipient living I San Diego. I have other sources of income besides SS. How do I figure out my total income to determine what tax bracket I am on?

xmasbaby0 · ‎October 30, 2024

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 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

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

marctu · ‎October 30, 2024

I would suggest using Tax Caster to help you in that endeavor. Taxable income is the amount of income subject to tax, after deductions and exemptions For both individuals and corporations, taxable income differs from—and is less than—gross income.

Gross income includes income from wages, bonuses, tips, freelancing, rental properties, retirement plan payouts, unemployment benefits, court awards, gambling winnings and prizes, interest, digital assets and cryptocurrency, and royalties.

The standard deduction amounts for 2024 are $14,600 for single filers, $29,200 for joint filers, and $21,900 for heads of household. People 65 or older may be eligible for a higher amount. The 2024 standard deduction is taken on tax returns filed in 2025.

The 2024 tax brackets apply to income earned this year, which is reported on tax returns filed in 2025.

Tax rate	Single	Married filing jointly	Married filing separately	Head of household
10%	$0 to $11,600	$0 to $23,200	$0 to $11,600	$0 to $16,550
12%	$11,601 to $47,150	$23,201 to $94,300	$11,601 to $47,150	$16,551 to $63,100
22%	$47,151 to $100,525	$94,301 to $201,050	$47,151 to $100,525	$63,101 to $100,500
24%	$100,526 to $191,950	$201,051 to $383,900	$100,526 to $191,950	$100,501 to $191,950
32%	$191,951 to $243,725	$383,901 to $487,450	$191,951 to $243,725	$191,951 to $243,700
35%	$243,726 to $609,350	$487,451 to $731,200	$243,726 to $365,600	$243,701 to $609,350
37%	$609,351 or more	$731,201 or more	$365,601 or more	$609,351 or more

I do hope this is helpful @Fay Bales

All the best,

Marc T.

TurboTax Live Tax Expert

27 Years of Experience Helping Clients

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Fay Bales · ‎October 30, 2024

Many thanks. Very helpful .

one more question, how does my deductions (ex. Mortgage interest), gets calculated in income level. Do I deduct it from total income first to show my real/net income or it does not play a role?

marctu · ‎October 30, 2024

So to the extent you itemize your deductions, which most taxpayers do not, these deductions are subtracted from adjusted gross income to get to taxable income.