Depending on your other income, up to 85% of Social Security can be taxable. See your share.
A Social Security taxation calculator estimates how much of your benefits are subject to federal income tax, based on your other income and the IRS provisional-income thresholds.
Whether your Social Security is taxed depends on your provisional income, your other income plus half your benefits. Below the first threshold ($25,000 single, $32,000 married), none is taxed. Above it, up to 50% becomes taxable; above a second threshold ($34,000 / $44,000), up to 85% is taxable. The taxable portion is then taxed at your ordinary rate.
Because withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts count as other income, they can push more of your Social Security into the taxable range, an interaction retirees often overlook. Managing the timing of withdrawals, and using Roth accounts, can reduce how much of your benefits get taxed. This estimate helps you see the effect.
It can be. Depending on your other income, up to 50% or 85% of benefits may be subject to federal income tax. Lower-income retirees often owe none.
Your other income plus half your Social Security benefits. It's compared to IRS thresholds to determine how much of your benefits are taxable.
Managing withdrawals from traditional accounts and using Roth accounts can lower your provisional income and the share of benefits taxed.
See the exact formula and a worked example on our methodology page.