How much of your social security is getting taxed, at what rate, and is there anything you can do about it?

Unfortunately, the IRS doesn't make it easy for people to understand how much of their social security is taxable and at what rate.

David explains that the best way to understand social security taxation is to first know about provisional income--this is the income the IRS tracks to determine how much of your social security will be taxable.

As you continue to increase your IRA distributions and, therefore, your total provisional income, the percentage of your social security that becomes taxable quickly begins to rise.

The IRS says that if your provisional income is between $32,000 and $44,000, up to 50% of your social security can become taxable.

Fortunately, there are some scenarios where you wouldn't pay any taxes, thanks to standard deductions. 

The most obvious thing to do if you don’t want social security taxation is to do a Roth conversion. 

According to David, any income taken from a Roth IRA does not count as provisional income and, therefore, does not count against the thresholds that cause social security taxation.

However, the only time it makes sense to do a Roth conversion is if you believe that your tax rate in the future is likely to be higher than it is today.

 

 

Mentioned in this episode:

David's books: Power of Zero, Look Before You LIRP, The Volatility Shield, Tax-Free Income for Life and The Infinity Code

DavidMcKnight.com

DavidMcKnightBooks.com

PowerOfZero.com (free 3-part video series)

@mcknightandco on Twitter 

@davidcmcknight on Instagram

David McKnight on YouTube

Get David's Tax-free Tool Kit at taxfreetoolkit.com