How Much of Your Social Security Is Taxed in 2026
- Eric Scruggs, CFP®, EA
- 1 day ago
- 17 min read
The short answer
Couples drawing Social Security while also taking IRA withdrawals have usually heard that “up to 85%” of the check can be taxed. For 2026 that phrase means the IRS may treat 0%, up to 50%, or up to 85% of Social Security as taxable income, depending on what else you earn. Let’s kill the myth first. The phrase “up to 85% taxable” does not describe an 85% tax rate.
Your “combined income” decides the band (think of it as everything else you earn, including tax-exempt interest, plus half of Social Security). Planners call that “other income” piece modified adjusted gross income (MAGI).
We unpack it later. Once a share of the benefit is counted, ordinary rates apply, the same brackets already used by IRA withdrawals. Those dollar thresholds have sat still since 1983 and 1993.
Key takeaways:
Three bands still govern 2026 under IRC §86. The IRS can treat 0%, up to 50%, or up to 85% of the benefit as taxable income. Those dollar thresholds (called “bases” in the statute) were never indexed. Nothing in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21, July 4, 2025) changed them.
MAGI plus half your Social Security is combined income. SSA, IRS, and CRS also call it provisional income. Tax-exempt interest is already added back into MAGI (IRC §86(b)(2)(B)).
Hitting $25,000 as a single filer, or $32,000 on a joint return, does not mean half of every benefit dollar is taxed. Clearing $34,000 or $44,000 does not mean 85% of every dollar is taxed. The worksheet builds in slices, then it stops at a cap.
An extra IRA withdrawal will not drag more Social Security into tax once 85% of the benefit already sits on Form 1040 line 6b (where taxable Social Security is reported). Medicare’s income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) still moves the bill, along with Roth conversions, required minimum distributions (RMDs), plus the single filing status of a surviving spouse.
Tax owed can drop because of the temporary $6,000 senior deduction (IRC §151, tax years 2025–2028). How much of the benefit is included does not change (CRS R48613, August 1, 2025).
Plenty of households with two Social Security checks plus a typical IRA withdrawal have already reached that 85% ceiling, the largest slice of the benefit the formula is allowed to treat as taxable. Tax people say the cap “binds.” After that point, another $10,000 from the IRA leaves the taxable share of the benefit unchanged. The statute’s formula works that way. It is not a recommendation about your return.
How much of Social Security benefits are taxed in 2026?
IRC §86 is where the rule lives. Those same base amounts still appear in the official U.S. Code text in effect on August 24, 2026. You will also find them reprinted in IRS Publication 915, both the 2025 final and the 2026 draft dated August 17, 2026 (it remains a draft, so read it as a preview). The same dollars show up in the statute, the 2025 publication, and CRS report R48613.
0% if combined income is | Up to 50% if combined income is | Up to 85% if combined income is | Single, head of household, or qualifying surviving spouse |
|---|---|---|---|
$25,000 or less | Above $25,000 through $34,000 | Above $34,000 | Married filing jointly |
$32,000 or less | Above $32,000 through $44,000 | Above $44,000 | Married filing separately, lived apart all year |
$25,000 or less | Above $25,000 through $34,000 | Above $34,000 | Married filing separately, lived with spouse at any time |
Both bases are $0 | – | Generally up to 85% | The first joint base is $32,000. That is not the single 85% line. For a single filer the second threshold is $34,000. The 1983 statute, P.L. 98-21, set $25,000 / $32,000 / $0. The 85% tier plus $34,000 / $44,000 arrived in P.L. 103-66 (1993). CRS R48613 (August 1, 2025) put it this way: “None of the thresholds is indexed for inflation or wage growth.” |
Seeing a benefit you funded for 40 years land on a 1040 at all can sting. Blame the Congresses of 1983 and 1993. Those thresholds were never indexed, so inflation nudges the bar down a bit more each year.
This worksheet does not include SSI. Supplemental Security Income is not taxable, according to Publication 915.
Those labels never appear in the statute. Under IRC §86(b), one-half of the Social Security (or tier-1 railroad retirement) benefits you received is added to modified adjusted gross income.
What is combined income (or provisional income)?
That sum is what SSA’s FAQ (updated June 30, 2025), IRS Publication 915, and CRS R48613 call combined income or provisional income. For this purpose MAGI begins with adjusted gross income computed as if none of your Social Security were taxable. Tax-exempt interest is then added back. Municipal-bond interest goes on line D of Publication 915 Worksheet A.
From box 5 of every Form SSA-1099 and RRB-1099, take the net benefits (Form 1040 line 6a).
Cut that number in half.
Fold in the rest of your income, tax-exempt interest included.
Hold the total up against the base that matches your filing status.
AGI is not that total, and neither is taxable income. The figure is a separate test number. Software can print a 12% bracket and still hide a higher marginal rate (the tax on the next dollar) while this sum keeps dragging more of the benefit onto the return.
Did the 2025 tax law make Social Security tax-free?
No, it did not. IRC §86 was left alone by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21, signed July 4, 2025).
The 0% / 50% / 85% bands and the dollar bases did not move. Our July 17, 2025 note on the bill covers the political version. A temporary senior deduction in IRC §151 is what the law created (P.L. 119-21 §70103). For tax years 2025–2028 the amount is $6,000 per qualified individual age 65 or older, or $12,000 on a joint return if both spouses qualify.
The phaseout is 6% of MAGI over $75,000 single or $150,000 joint. Joint filing is required for married taxpayers. You also need a valid Social Security number. What the deduction is not, CRS R48613 (August 1, 2025) says plainly. It “does not change the calculation of how much of an individual’s or couple’s Social Security benefits is taxable.” It is “applied after taxable Social Security benefits are calculated.”
Put differently, AGI, combined income, and line 6b stay the same. After the taxable share of your benefit is already locked, the deduction can still cut the tax you owe. The phaseout sits in the same MAGI band where many households convert to Roth, and the provision sunsets after 2028 unless Congress extends it. It is also distinct from the extra standard deduction for age ($1,650 for each aged spouse on a joint 2026 return, $2,050 if unmarried and not a surviving spouse (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)). The $6,000 is not free Roth-conversion room.
What does “up to 85% of benefits” actually mean?
Think of it as a ceiling on how much of the check can be included in ordinary income. It is not a tax rate. Those included dollars then face 2026 ordinary rates from Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
For married filing jointly that is 10% through $24,800 of taxable income, 12% through $100,800, 22% through $211,400, and 24% through $403,550. The 2026 standard deduction runs $32,200 joint and $16,100 single.Nor is it a cliff. Here is what Publication 915 Worksheet 1 (2025 final and 2026 draft) does:
Of the slice of combined income sitting between the first base and the second base, take 50%, at most $9,000 single or $12,000 joint. Then cap that piece at 50% of benefits.
Of combined income above the second base, add 85%.
Stop the sum at 85% of benefits.
After you clear the second base and the 50% band is already filled, the joint formula becomes the lesser of
$6,000 + 0.85 × (combined income − $44,000) or 0.85 × benefits. Half of the $12,000 gap is that $6,000. A single filer gets a $4,500 add-on instead. Joint benefits under $12,000 swap half of benefits in for that $6,000.
In everyday terms: crossing the second base means each extra dollar of income brings 85 cents of Social Security into taxable income, until the ceiling of 85% of your benefit is reached. Extra income after that cannot make more of your benefit taxable. The law has already put everything it can reach onto the return.
The official proof sits in IRS Publication 915 Example 3 (2025 final and 2026 draft). Net benefits of $10,000 and combined income of $45,500 belong to a married couple. Half of the $12,000 band would be $6,000, yet that piece is capped at 50% of benefits, which is $5,000. Combined income sits $1,500 over $44,000, and 85% of that slice is $1,275. Add them and you get $6,275, which is 62.75% of the check, not 85%. Line 6a gets $10,000. Line 6b gets $6,275.
A single filer in Publication 915 Example 1 has $5,980 of benefits, combined income of $31,980, and taxable benefits of $2,990. In the 2026 draft, Example 4 covers married filing separately (lived together): $4,000 of benefits and taxable $3,400, since both bases are $0.
That nickname makes it sound like a permanent 40% rate on retirement. It isn’t.
What is the Social Security tax torpedo, and who still hits it?
Combined income above the second base, with the taxable share still short of 85% of benefits, is the phase-in stretch. Inside that stretch, $0.85 of Social Security can ride onto the return with an extra $1 of ordinary income. From $1 of IRA, pension, or wages you get $1.85 of extra taxable income. That multiplier is walked through in how Roth conversion tax is paid. For 2026 the useful question is when it stops.
Hypothetical (phase-in neighbor):
Both 66, a married couple has $20,000 of net Social Security and $38,000 of other MAGI. That produces combined income of $48,000. The inclusion comes to $6,000 + 0.85 × ($48,000 − $44,000) = $9,400, which is 47% of the check (under the $17,000 cap).
Layer on $1,000 of IRA income and combined income becomes $49,000. Taxable Social Security then sits at $10,250. Newly taxable benefits of $850 came from that extra $1,000, which means $1,850 of extra taxable income. Treat this as a modeled household rather than a promise.
Tax those extra dollars at 12% and the modeled last-dollar rate is 12% × 1.85 = 22.2%. Once those dollars sit in the 22% bracket (taxable income over $100,800 joint for 2026, Rev. Proc. 2025-32), the modeled rate is 22% × 1.85 = 40.7%. The 40.7% combination occupies a thin band (still phasing in, and already in 22%). A normal IRA withdrawal from a $2 million portfolio usually cannot sit there.
Combined income (married filing jointly)
Worksheet | Extra $1 of ordinary income adds to taxable SS | Extra taxable income from that $1 | $32,000 or less |
|---|---|---|---|
Nothing included | $0 | $1.00 | Above $32,000 through $44,000 |
50% of the slice, capped at half of benefits | $0.50 | $1.50 | Above $44,000, not yet at 85% of benefits |
85% of the excess, plus the filled 50% band | $0.85 | $1.85 | Already at 85% of benefits |
Cap binds | $0 | $1.00 | When line 6b equals 85% of line 6a, the spike is over. From there the next IRA dollar is just the ordinary bracket, plus IRMAA or the senior-deduction phaseout if those apply to you. |
Two checks plus any meaningful IRA usually means a $1 million to $10 million household has already left the torpedo behind. The test is simple. Joint benefits of $40,000 put the 85% cap in force once other income passes roughly $57,000. Benefits of $48,000 put it near $61,000.
At this asset level, ordinary withdrawals and dividends often clear those lines by themselves. Dodging the 85% is not the usual planning question in this range. The question is how to use the years before benefits and RMDs start, so later years (85% inclusion, IRMAA, and eventually a survivor filing single) stay livable. Treat that as a general frame, not a to-do list for your household.
If 85% of my Social Security is already taxable, what still matters?
MAGI from two years earlier is what IRMAA uses. Per SSA POMS HI 01101.010, 2026 premiums are generally based on 2024 MAGI. MAGI at or below $109,000 single or $218,000 joint is the first 2026 tier with no IRMAA (CMS, November 14, 2025). Form SSA-44 does not treat a voluntary conversion as a life-changing event.
Anyone born in 1953 turns 73 in 2026 and faces a first RMD for 2026 (SECURE 2.0; IRS Notice 2023-23; Publication 590-B). Publication 590-B also lets the first RMD wait until April 1 of the following year. If you are already at the 85% cap, forced IRA income does not raise the taxable share of Social Security. A lever still exists. Age 70½ is when an IRA owner can send dollars straight to a charity (a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD). A QCD within the 2026 cap of $111,000 per IRA owner (IRS Notice 2025-67) stays out of AGI entirely, so combined income does not rise, and the gift can count toward an RMD.
The mechanics live in how to reduce taxable income in retirement.
The §86 formula is unchanged by claiming age. What changes is the window: when the inclusion clock starts, and how large the half-benefit is.
When Should You Take Social Security? A 2026 Guide is the place for that decision.
The earnings test can fire if you work before full retirement age, and it counts only wages and self-employment income. Roth conversions are not earnings for that test. They do count for taxability (Treas. Reg. §1.408A-4, Q&A-9). A state that does not tax Social Security still leaves the federal worksheet untouched (May 29, 2026 tax map).
How much of your Social Security is taxed at $1 million, $2 million, $5 million, and $10 million?
Hypotheticals is the label on the four households below. Portfolio sizes and the income mix were invented so the arithmetic stays clean. Only the statutory formula drives the tax math. Each taxable-Social-Security figure is a modeled estimate rather than a promise.
On a joint return already over $44,000, once benefits are large enough for the $6,000 add-on to apply:
Inclusion = the lesser of [$6,000 + 0.85 × (combined income − $44,000)] or [0.85 × benefits].
Hypothetical | Liquid assets | Net SS (box 5) | Other MAGI | Combined income | Band | Taxable SS (line 6b) | Share of benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | $1 million | $40,000 | $58,000 | $78,000 | At 85% cap | $34,000 | 85% |
2 | $2 million | $48,000 | $88,000 | $112,000 | At 85% cap | $40,800 | 85% |
3 | $5 million | $52,000 | $170,000 | $196,000 | At 85% cap | $44,200 | 85% |
4 | $10 million | $54,000 | $400,000 | $427,000 | At 85% cap | $45,900 | 85% |
What the table shows is the §86 inclusion (Form 1040 line 6b), not a modeled household tax bill. State tax, the net investment income tax (NIIT), and other items are omitted. Assumptions used: married filing jointly, an invented benefit and MAGI mix, and the statutory formula only.
Hypothetical 1: $1 million, married filing jointly. The spouses are both 70. The two checks add up to $40,000. Other MAGI totals $58,000, made up of a $48,000 IRA and $10,000 taxable interest and dividends. Combined income comes to $78,000. Run the formula and you get $6,000 + 0.85 × $34,000 (the amount over $44,000) = $34,900. The ceiling of 85% is the smaller number: 85% of $40,000 is $34,000, and $34,000 is what lands on line 6b. In a lighter year ($48,000 of other MAGI) combined income falls to $68,000 and taxable Social Security falls to $26,400, or 66% of the check. That lighter year is still the phase-in. That is not true of the $2 million household below.
Hypothetical 2: $2 million. Both 68, this couple has benefits of $48,000 and other MAGI of $88,000. Combined income is $112,000. Without the cap the formula is $63,800. The cap is $40,800. An extra $10,000 IRA withdrawal pushes combined income to $122,000. The formula then rises to $72,300. The cap remains $40,800. Taxable Social Security stays put. The extra $10,000 can still matter for IRMAA, depending on 2024 MAGI.
Hypothetical 3: $5 million. Both 72, this couple has benefits of $52,000. Other MAGI is $170,000, and $20,000 of that is tax-exempt municipal-bond interest. Because those munis are added back under IRC §86(b)(2)(B), combined income is $196,000. The taxable Social Security figure is $44,200. Those munis never showed up in AGI, yet they still counted toward IRMAA MAGI as well (the first 2026 joint line with no surcharge is $218,000; CMS, November 14, 2025).
Hypothetical 4: $10 million. Both 79, this couple has benefits of $54,000. Other MAGI is $400,000, including RMDs that have run for years. Combined income is $427,000. Taxable Social Security is $45,900, and it has been 85% for years. Extra IRA income leaves line 6b unchanged. The year after the first death is what still bites: a single larger check, unchanged IRA minimums, single-filer brackets, and IRMAA measured against $109,000 rather than $218,000.
Curious how a household like these lines up against this formula? You can reserve a free Retirement Strategy Session. The conversation runs 45–60 minutes and is introductory, meant for households that could be a fit (as a rule, $1 million or more invested, real estate not counted). It is not a plan. It is not advice. Clicking does not create an advisory relationship.
Do municipal bonds count toward Social Security tax?
Yes, they do. Interest that is exempt from tax still increases MAGI under IRC §86(b)(2)(B). Publication 915 Worksheet A line D tells you to enter tax-exempt interest income, such as interest on municipal bonds. Shifting cash into a tax-exempt money market to “make room” for an IRA withdrawal does not hide those dollars from this worksheet, or from IRMAA MAGI. Hypothetical 3 already sat over the 85% cap, so $20,000 of munis did not change it. In a phase-in year those same munis would have mattered.
Do Roth conversions make Social Security more taxable?
Gross income includes a conversion (IRC §408A(d)(3)). The taxable conversion amount, Treasury Regulation §1.408A-4, Q&A-9 says, “is included in income for all purposes,” including “determining the taxable portion of social security payments under section 86.”
Combined income rises if you convert in a year you are already collecting benefits. During the phase-in, more of the benefit can be pulled onto the return, which is why trying to fill the 12% or 22% bracket once the checks have begun can be a blind move. This is a general mechanic, not a recommendation to convert or to skip converting. Once you are at the 85% cap, the conversion does not increase taxable Social Security. AGI still goes up. And because of the two-year lookback, 2026 MAGI can affect 2028 IRMAA premiums.
A different article covers how much to convert and which ceiling to use: Roth Conversion Strategy: How Much Should You Convert, and When?.
What happens to Social Security tax if your spouse dies?
Kindness is not built into the formula. The survivor files single the year after death (or as a qualifying surviving spouse, if eligible). Bases fall from $32,000 / $44,000 to $25,000 / $34,000. The survivor in Hypothetical 4 remains miles above $34,000. The remaining check is still 85% included.
What is newly painful is not the taxability of the benefit. Only the larger of the two checks continues, not both. That one check plus the same IRA RMDs now faces single brackets (in 2026 the 22% tier begins at $50,400 of taxable income, Rev. Proc. 2025-32) plus a single IRMAA threshold of $109,000. The survivor benefit is in the June 18 claiming guide. Here we are talking about the survivor return.
Frequently asked questions
I paid into Social Security for 40 years. Why is any of the check on my 1040?
Benefits entered IRC §86 because Congress put them there in 1983, then expanded the inclusion in 1993. A FICA history did not purchase a federal-income-tax exemption.
What actually goes into combined or provisional income?
One-half of your net benefits plus MAGI (that is AGI figured without the Social Security inclusion, then plus tax-exempt interest and a short add-back list). That figure is not AGI. It is not taxable income either.
Does “up to 85% taxable” mean an 85% tax rate?
No, it does not. The maximum share of the benefit that can be included is what that phrase describes. Ordinary 2026 rates then apply to those dollars.
Did the 2025 law, or SSA language about “nearly 90%,” make Social Security tax-free?
No, it did not. §86 was left alone by P.L. 119-21. What you get is a temporary, income-phased §151 deduction of $6,000.
Will a Roth conversion make my benefits more taxable?
Combined income goes up. Yes, if you are in the phase-in. Taxable Social Security does not increase at the 85% cap. MAGI still rises, and IRMAA can rise two years later.
If I am already at the 85% cap, does extra IRA income still increase taxable Social Security?
No, it does not. IRMAA, the senior-deduction phaseout through 2028, and the surviving-spouse bracket are the leftover cliffs.
Do municipal bonds count?
Yes, they count for Social Security taxability and for IRMAA MAGI. See Publication 915 Worksheet A line D.
Do QCDs help Social Security tax, or only the RMD?
At age 70½, a QCD within the 2026 cap of $111,000 per IRA owner stays out of AGI. Combined income does not rise, and the QCD can satisfy an RMD.
Should I claim at 62 so less of the benefit is taxed?
When the inclusion clock starts, and how large the half-benefit is, both shift with claiming age. The formula itself does not change. Even a smaller check can still be 85% included.
I live in a state that does not tax Social Security. Am I done?
No, you are not. The federal worksheet is indifferent to your state.
Can I convert the $6,000 senior deduction dollar-for-dollar to a Roth and leave taxable Social Security alone?
Line 6b is not reduced by the deduction. Extra AGI in a phase-in year is not 1-for-1 conversion room. The phaseout runs from $75,000 to $175,000 if you file single, and from $150,000 to $250,000 on a joint return for one senior ($350,000 if both qualify for the full $12,000), and only for tax years 2025–2028.
If I keep MAGI low this year, does that cut this year’s IRMAA?
No, it does not. 2024 MAGI is generally what 2026 premiums use (SSA POMS HI 01101.010). Form SSA-44 does not treat a voluntary conversion as a life-changing event.
Why does my software say I am in the 12% bracket when extra income costs more than 12%?
Last-dollar rate and printed bracket are not always the same thing. Extra ordinary income can bring $1.50 or $1.85 onto the return while Social Security is phasing in.
For a $1 million to $10 million couple, what is the actual planning question?
Keeping Social Security tax-free is usually not it. The question is how to use the years before benefits and RMDs start, so the later years (85% inclusion, IRMAA, a survivor filing single) stay livable.
Do Roth conversions count against the Social Security earnings test?
No, they do not. Taxability is where they count.
The bottom line
What you have in 2026 is still the 1993 rules. Bands remain 0%, up to 50%, and up to 85%, and the dollar thresholds have not budged. Inflation still lowers the bar a little every year in real terms. Still in the phase-in? Each extra IRA dollar can haul $1.50 to $1.85 of taxable income onto the return. Already at the 85% cap (where many two-check, $1 million-plus households sit)? Extra withdrawals cannot make more of your benefit taxable. Ordinary brackets, the two-year IRMAA delay, the timing of Roth conversions, RMDs, and later a survivor’s single filing status are the numbers that decide the bill from there.
If you would rather map your own household onto this formula (still phasing in, or already at the cap, and what the pre-RMD years can do), book a free Retirement Strategy Session. Expect a 45–60 minute educational conversation, generally for households that may be a fit ($1 million or more invested, excluding real estate). The session is not a plan and not advice. Neither a click nor attendance creates an advisory relationship. A client service agreement is the only path to advice.
About the author:
Financial Advisor
Adam is a Lead Financial Advisor with Covenant Wealth Advisors, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner and an Enrolled Agent (EA). He has over 13 years of experience in the financial services industry in the areas of financial planning for retirement, tax planning, and investment management.
Disclosures:
Covenant Wealth Advisors is a DBA of Fonville Wealth Management, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Offices in Richmond, Williamsburg, and Reston, Virginia. Clients nationwide.
This article is for general education only. It is not investment, tax, legal, or personalized financial advice, and it is not a recommendation to claim Social Security at a particular age, to take or avoid an IRA withdrawal, to buy or hold municipal bonds, or to complete or avoid a Roth conversion or any other transaction. Covenant Wealth Advisors provides investment advice only after a client service agreement is in place. If you are not a client, nothing in this article is advice for you. Consult your own tax and legal advisers about your situation. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional wrote and edited this article with the assistance of AI.
Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Nothing here is an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.
Figures in this article, including the phase-in neighbor and the $1 million, $2 million, $5 million, and $10 million households, are labeled hypotheticals. They use the IRC §86 formula and the assumptions stated in the article (invented portfolio sizes and income mix; statutory inclusion only). They are not client results, not a projection of any household’s tax, and not a guarantee. Your tax, inclusion, IRMAA, and filing status will differ. IRS Publication 915 for tax year 2026 was a draft as of the date of this article.
A free Retirement Strategy Session is a 45–60 minute educational conversation. It is not a financial plan and not advice. No advisory relationship is formed by booking or attending. Advice is provided only after a client service agreement is in place. The session is generally for households with $1 million or more invested, excluding real estate.
CFP® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ are certification marks owned by Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. Those marks are awarded to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.
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