# Social Security/Tax Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014 "2024-09-09T14:32:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![19USMC69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ac91a4/32.png) [@19USMC69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/19USMC69)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/1 "2024-09-09T14:32:38Z")
Can federal taxes be withheld from monthly Social Security checks/payments? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/2 "2024-09-09T14:37:11Z")
Yes, you can request to have federal taxes withheld from your SS payments. > **Request to withhold taxes** > > Submit a request to pay taxes on your Social Security benefit throughout the year instead of paying a large bill at tax time. - [SOURCE](https://www.ssa.gov/manage-benefits/request-withhold-taxes) ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/3 "2024-09-09T14:43:51Z")
Just a note, as I’m sure you know, that roughly the first 25-32k of SS is not taxed at the Federal level, depending on filing status and other income. [https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02471](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02471) ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/4 "2024-09-11T15:52:16Z")
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: [Keyhotea Cornfielded Posts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/keyhotea-cornfielded-posts/1007125/14) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/6 "2024-09-09T16:54:34Z")
I don’t think you are reading that quite correctly. It’s not that the first $25K-$32K of SS isn’t taxable - it’s that if your “combined income” (which only includes half of your SS benefits) is less than those numbers , then _none_ of your SS is taxable Let’s say my husband and I each get $2500/month in Social Security benefits. That’s $60K a year. If our [combined income](https://www-origin.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html#:~:text=Substantial%20income%20includes%20wages%2C%20earnings,reported%20on%20your%20tax%20return.&text=Between%20%2425%2C000%20and%20%2434%2C000%2C%20you,your%20benefits%20may%20be%20taxable.) is over $44K (which it absolutely will be) , then 85% of our SS is taxable, which means $51K of our SS income will be taxed. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/7 "2024-09-09T17:17:15Z")
You are certainly likely to be more corrector than I. This tax year will be the first time I’ll file with no earned income. I’ve used online calculators to estimate my ultimate burden, but didn’t look under the hood. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/8 "2024-09-09T18:11:18Z")
The Bogleheads have an excellent [page](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Taxation_of_Social_Security_benefits) on taxes on SS. It’s scary how messed up the formula is. Trying to work out backwards your options for minimizing the tax is a real chore. And for single folk in a modest income range the marginal tax rate is over 40%. ---
**Author:** ![Yelnick\_McWawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/839c29/32.png) [@Yelnick\_McWawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yelnick_McWawa)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/9 "2024-09-10T13:53:15Z")
My recollection is that you are limited to three choices: zero, 10%, 25%. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/10 "2024-09-10T14:09:42Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1007125/15): > > If you are asking about how much to withhold, well that would depend on your specific situation. My accountant suggested I have 10% withheld as long as I continue working. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/11 "2024-09-10T14:12:24Z")
I have 12% withheld. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/12 "2024-09-10T14:18:02Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > And for single folk in a modest income range the marginal tax rate is over 40%. To be fair that 40% marginal rate only applies over a relatively small window from $47k-$52k in taxable income. After that it is back to a 22% marginal rate. There are other weird little blips in the marginal rate for married couples as well, depending on where the non-SSI income comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-tax-question/1007014/13 "2024-09-10T14:50:45Z")
> [@Yelnick\_McWawa](#): > > My recollection is that you are limited to three choices: zero, 10%, 25%. ISTR that when I started drawing SS, there were 3 non-zero choices. But the current W-4V ([Form W-4V (Rev. February 2018) (irs.gov)](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4v.pdf)), has boxes for 7%, 10%, 12%, and 22%.