Calculator: How Much of My Social Security Benefits Is Taxable?

[Updated on September 11, 2026 for the 2027 tax year.]

Social Security benefits are 100% tax-free when your total income is low. As your total income increases, you’ll pay federal income tax on a portion of your benefits while the rest remains tax-free. This taxable portion goes up as your total income rises, but it will never exceed 85%. Even if your annual total income is $1 million, at least 15% of your Social Security benefits will stay tax-free.

Taxation of Social Security Benefits

The IRS uses a somewhat complex formula to determine how much of your Social Security is taxable and how much of it is tax-free. The formula first calculates a combined income equal to half of your benefit plus your other income, such as withdrawals from your retirement accounts, interest, dividends, and capital gains. It also adds any tax-exempt interest from muni bonds.

This income is then reduced by above-the-line deductions such as deductible contributions to Traditional IRAs, SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, HSAs, deductible self-employment tax, and self-employment health insurance. Finally, this provisional income goes through some thresholds based on your tax filing status. All of these steps are in Worksheet 1 in IRS Publication 915.

Calculator

You can go through the 19 steps in the worksheet to calculate the amount of Social Security benefits that will be taxable, but the worksheet isn’t the easiest to use. I made an online calculator that helps you calculate it much more quickly. You’ll have your answer with the click of a button.

The calculator not only calculates the amount of your taxable Social Security benefits, but it also calculates your total federal income tax, taking into account your capital gains and other deductions. If you’re not receiving Social Security yet, it still works as a tax calculator without Social Security.

The calculator works for all types of Social Security benefits. It doesn’t matter whether you’re receiving Social Security retirement benefits, disability benefits, spousal benefits, or survivor benefits as a widow or widower. It doesn’t matter whether you’re receiving your full Social Security benefits, or you’re getting reduced benefits because you claimed early, or you’re getting the maximum benefit because you waited until age 70.

The calculator works for both a single person and a married couple. If you’re married filing jointly and both of you are receiving Social Security, include both your benefit and your spouse’s benefit, and both your income and your spouse’s income.

If you’re on Medicare, the Social Security Administration automatically deducts the Medicare premium from your Social Security benefits. You need to use the “gross” Social Security benefits before deducting the Medicare premium, and it should be an annual number, not monthly. You can find this number on your Social Security benefit statement or your Form SSA-1099.

The new 2025 Trump tax law raised the standard deduction and created a $6,000 senior deduction, but it didn’t change anything in how Social Security is taxed. See Social Security Is Still Taxed Under the New 2025 Trump Tax Law for more details about the senior deduction. This calculator includes both the updated standard deduction and the new $6,000 senior deduction.

It only applies to federal taxes though. State taxes don’t necessarily follow the same rules as the federal government. Different states have different rules on taxing Social Security benefits. Some states don’t tax Social Security benefits.

This calculator works better on a desktop computer.

Calculating for Tax Year	2025 2026 2027
Tax Filing Status:	Single Head of Household Married Filing Jointly Married Filing Separately
I’m 65+ by 12/31:
Spouse (if filing jointly) is 65+ by 12/31:
Social Security benefits (gross, calendar year):
Investment Income:
– Muni bond interest
– Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains
– Other investment income (rentals, interest, non-qualified dividends, short-term capital gains, net capital loss up to $3,000)
– 199A dividends included above
Self-employment income (after all expenses):
Other income (wages, pension, IRA withdrawals, Roth conversion, …):
Deductible contributions to HSA and traditional IRA:
Cash donations made directly to charities (outside of QCD):
Loan interest paid on new US-assembled personal vehicles:
▼Itemizing Deductions (expand if you think you may itemize instead of taking the standard deduction):
– Non-cash donations and donations to Donor Advised Funds
– State and local income and property taxes
– Medical expenses
– Other itemizable deductions (mortgage interest, …)
ACA health insurance (check if you’re on ACA health insurance):
– Household size
– State of residence	Lower 48 Alaska Hawaii
– Full price of the policy chosen (monthly)
– Net price after the subsidy (monthly)
– Full price of the second-lowest cost Silver plan (monthly)
– Number of months on ACA policy during the year
– MAGI from tax dependents required to file a tax return
Notes (optional, describe this scenario):

$ of your Social Security benefits is taxable, which means % of your benefits is tax-free.

Your federal income tax is approximately .

This is calculated from a taxable income of $:
+ $ Taxable Social Security benefits
+ $ Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains
+ $ Other investment income
+ $ Self-employment income
+ $ Other income
– $ One-half of self-employment tax
– $ Deductible contributions to HSA and traditional IRA
= $ AGI
– $ standard deduction$ itemized deductions
– $ senior deduction.
– $ charitable contribution deduction
– $ QBI deduction
– $ auto loan interest deduction

The calculated tax includes:
* $ in Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)
* $ in self-employment tax
* $ in Additional Medicare Tax
* $ in . Your MAGI for ACA is % of the Federal Poverty Level. You’re not eligible for ACA Premium Tax Credit when you’re married filing separately.

If your ordinary income increases by $100, your tax will increase by $. If your qualified dividends and long-term capital gains increase by $100, your tax will increase by $. You can realize up to $ more in long-term capital gains without increasing your federal income tax.

If you will be on Medicare in , your MAGI will likely make you pay that year.

Save Inputs & Results Download a report with your current inputs and results to review it offline or compare it side-by-side with another scenario.

If you don’t quite trust my calculator, you can double-check it against the official calculator from the IRS. The IRS calculator isn’t as easy to use. It gives the same result for the taxable amount at the end, but it doesn’t include a tax estimate.

Taxable Does Not Necessarily Mean Paying Taxes

The calculator shows the taxable portion of your Social Security benefits. Having a taxable amount only means it will be included as part of your gross income on your tax return. It does not necessarily mean you’ll pay taxes.

Your gross income is still subject to your normal standard or itemized deductions to arrive at your taxable income. You still pay by your normal tax brackets of 10%, 12%, 22%, etc., on the taxable income. 50% or 85% of your benefits being taxable doesn’t mean you’ll lose 50% or 85% of your Social Security to taxes. The actual tax on your benefits is much less. The tax may be zero after applying deductions.

When more than 15% of your Social Security is tax-free, additional income outside Social Security will make more of your Social Security benefits taxable, lowering that number toward 15%. Some people call this a tax torpedo, but it’s a misleading term. It gives you the false impression that Social Security is taxed more heavily than other income. You still pay lower taxes than other people with the same income. See why that’s the case in An Unusually High Marginal Tax Rate Means Paying Lower Taxes.