Will my husband's Social Security benefits be taxed based on my income while I'm still working?

Yes, this is absolutely true. Social Security taxation is based on your combined income as a married couple filing jointly. The formula uses what's called "combined income" (adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + 1/2 of SS benefits). For married couples filing jointly: - If combined income is between $32,000-$44,000, up to 50% of benefits are taxable - If combined income exceeds $44,000, up to 85% of benefits may be taxable With your income at $92,000 plus his SS benefits, you'll definitely be in the 85% taxation bracket. This doesn't mean 85% tax rate - it means 85% of his SS benefits will be added to your taxable income, then taxed at your ordinary income tax rate.

My mom went thru this EXACT thing!! Dad retired and mom kept working and yeah they got hit with taxes on his SS. Basically the government wants to take back some of what they give out if u have other income. Kinda stinks but that's how it works

The taxation of Social Security is completely RIDICULOUS!! The money was already taxed when we earned it, then they tax it AGAIN when we finally get benefits. It's double taxation plain and simple. And now they're using YOUR income to tax HIS benefits even MORE??? The whole system is designed to punish people who saved and worked hard. My husband and I went through this exact nightmare last year when I was still working and he was collecting. I ended up cutting back my hours just to reduce our tax bill because it was barely worth working!!!!

You might want to consider increasing your pre-tax retirement contributions while you're still working. Contributing more to your 401(k) or similar account will reduce your AGI, which could potentially lower the amount of your husband's SS benefits subject to taxation. Also look into whether you can contribute to an HSA if you have an eligible health plan. These strategies won't eliminate the taxation completely with your income level, but they might help reduce it somewhat.

wait im confused... does this mean when I retire next yr my wifes income will mess up my SS check? shes 58 and im 66 so were in kind of the same boat as u.

When I retired and my wife kept working, we ran into the same problem with taxes on my Social Security. After struggling to get through to anyone at SSA for tax advice, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a live SSA agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent couldn't give tax advice but did confirm how the income thresholds work and directed me to some resources. Worth checking out if you need to speak with someone at SSA directly. Saved me hours of frustration and hold music!

OP, you might want to talk to a tax professional who specializes in retirement planning. There are some strategies like Roth conversions, tax-loss harvesting, and timing of income recognition that could help your situation. I'm in almost the exact same boat (husband retired, I'm still working), and we found that some smart tax planning has saved us thousands.

One more thing to consider - if your husband's benefit is close to the maximum ($4,873/month), that means he had substantial earnings during his career. Be sure to explore any potential impacts from the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO) if either of you worked in jobs not covered by Social Security (like certain government positions). These provisions can significantly reduce benefits and often catch people by surprise.

This happened to my brother and sister-in-law too. You know what they did? They filed taxes separately for a few years until she retired. Might be worth looking into.

Thank you all for the helpful advice! I've increased my 401(k) contributions to the maximum allowed with catch-up provisions to reduce our AGI, and we've scheduled a meeting with a tax professional to explore all our options. I also used Claimyr to speak with an SSA representative who confirmed everything you all mentioned about the taxation thresholds. While it's frustrating that so much of my husband's benefit will be taxed while I'm working, at least now we can budget accordingly and explore strategies to minimize the impact. I appreciate all your insights!

Great to see you taking proactive steps, Amara! Maximizing your 401(k) contributions is smart, especially with catch-up contributions available at your age. One additional thing to consider - since your husband is on your employer health insurance, make sure you understand what happens to his coverage when you do retire. You'll want to plan the transition to Medicare carefully to avoid any gaps. Also, don't forget that once you both retire and your income drops significantly, the taxation on his SS benefits may decrease or even disappear depending on your other retirement income sources. The current tax burden is temporary while you're still working!

As someone who went through this exact situation a few years ago, I wanted to add that you should also consider the timing of when you eventually retire. If you can coordinate your retirement with the beginning of a tax year, you might be able to minimize the taxation impact in your final working year. For example, if you retire in January rather than December, you'd have almost a full year of lower combined income, which could drop you into a lower SS taxation bracket for that year. Also, once you're both on Medicare, don't forget that your Medicare premiums might be subject to IRMAA (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) surcharges based on your income from two years prior. It's another layer of complexity, but worth planning for. The good news is that all these tax headaches do get simpler once you're both fully retired!

One strategy that might help is looking into municipal bonds for part of your investment portfolio. The interest from municipal bonds is typically tax-free at the federal level (and sometimes state level too), which means it won't count toward your "combined income" calculation for Social Security taxation purposes. This could help keep you closer to the lower taxation thresholds. Obviously you'd want to compare the after-tax yields with taxable investments, but given your tax situation, munis might make sense for a portion of your portfolio. Just another tool in the toolbox alongside maxing out those 401(k) contributions!