A month, before Medicare
A year: pensions, IRA withdrawals, wages, interest
More options· Tax-exempt interest
From municipal bonds: not taxed, but it counts here
Taxable Social Security
$11,300
47% of your $24,000 of benefits in 2026 counts as taxable income
- Tax it adds
- $1,225
- Your federal tax
- $1,810
- Tax on your next $1,000
- $222
What this means
What decides it is your provisional income: your other income, plus tax-exempt interest, plus half your benefits. Yours is $42,000. That’s over $34,000, so up to 85% of your benefits can be taxed. These thresholds have been the same since the 1980s and 1990s, so more retirees pay each year.
Each extra $1,000 of other income costs you $222 in tax, more than your 12% bracket, because it also makes more of your benefits taxable. Spreading IRA withdrawals over the years, or taking some from a Roth, can lower this.
To cover your federal tax, you could ask Social Security to withhold 10% of your benefits on Form W-4V (the choices are 7%, 10%, 12% and 22%).
How it’s worked out
| Other income | $30,000 |
| Half your benefits | $12,000 |
| Provisional income | $42,000 |
| Thresholds | $25,000 / $34,000 |
| Taxable benefits | $11,300 |
| Adjusted gross income | $41,300 |
| Taxable income | $17,150 |
| Federal income tax | $1,810 |
Your benefits
- Taxable$11,300
- Tax-free$12,700
Assumptions in this estimate
- For 2026, with the standard deduction, the extra deduction at 65 and the $6,000 senior deduction (2025 to 2028), which shrinks above $75,000 of income ($150,000 joint).
- Benefits are the gross amount in box 5 of your SSA-1099, before Medicare premiums are taken off. Up to 85% of benefits can ever be taxed.
- Married filing separately assumes you lived with your spouse at some point in the year, so up to 85% is taxable from the first dollar. If you lived apart all year, choose Single.
- Federal tax only. Most states don’t tax Social Security, but a few do, often with their own exemptions: check your state’s rules.
- Withdrawals from a Roth IRA, and qualified distributions from an HSA for medical costs, don’t count as income here.