For the retired and the disabled who live on Social Security income, filing returns becomes necessary only under certain conditions. For unmarried seniors, if your only income is the Social Security benefits, you do not have to file an income tax return.
For those who are 65 years or more, and receive $14,700 or more in non-exempt income which is in addition to your Social Security benefits, you must file a federal income tax return. These figures are for the 2022 tax year.
For married couples filing jointly, and where both are 65 and above, you must file an income tax return if your non-exempt income comes to $28,700 and if your spouse is less than 65 years it is $27,300.
The calculations are a bit complicated if the sum of 50% of your Social Security, plus the Adjusted Gross Income and your tax-exempted dividends and interest, is more than $25,000 for individual filers and $32,000 for joint filers. Then a part of the income from Social Security benefits is added back into the gross income and then you might be required to file an income tax return and may have to pay taxes.
Filing For Seniors Earning Social Security Income
For the 2022 tax year, individual seniors will typically have to file an income tax return if they are at least 65 years and their AGI is $4,700 or more.
But only income derived from Social Security benefits are not to be included in your gross income. If it is your sole income, then the gross income for income tax is calculated as zero. So you need not file a federal income tax.
But in cases where you have another source of income that includes certain tax-exempt incomes, then the onus is on you every year to determine whether the total income exceeds the filing limit. Before the tax year 2018, which was normally submitted in 2019, such amounts were based on the Standard Deduction that year. To that was added the exemption amount according to your age and also filing status.
Starting in 2018, only the standard deduction is used. Exemptions aren’t part of the calculation for your taxable income under the new laws that were passed in the latter half of 2017. From the tax year 2022, the new rules kick in.
Including Social Security Income Along With Gross Income
In certain situations, seniors must include some of their Social Security income in their total gross income. And if you are married but file individually despite living with your spouse, then 85% of the Social Security income is considered gross income. And thus you would have to file an income tax return for that year.
Further, a part of the Social Security benefits is part of gross income. This is regardless of the filing status of the filer. This happens only when the total of 50% of the social benefits, the adjusted gross income, and the interest and dividends are over $25,000 for individuals and $32,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Even if you file your tax returns as a senior over 65 years there are ways to reduce your tax that you would normally end up paying on your taxable income. As long as you are above sixty-five years, and have low income from sources other than the social security payments, your tax liability can be brought down by an expert.
Double Payments For Social Security Recipients In June
Even as the Social Security Administration gets ready to send out millions of supplemental checks, many are wondering if there is a bonus payment in June. the Social Security Administration of the US revealed that an average of 67 million Americans per month will receive a benefit from the agency. And such payments typically come on a set date every month. And the queer system of advance payments in some months has confused many recipients who are under the impression that there could be getting a bonus payment in June.
The Social Security payments follow a pre-set schedule. Most recipients normally receive the Social Security payments on the 2nd, 3rd, and the 4th Wednesday of every month and the dates are dependent on the birthdate of the recipient.
But people who also receive the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) such as those received by the blind or the disabled usually get their payments on the first working day of the month.
This causes an issue if the first working day is a holiday. This is the case next month as July 1 falls on a Saturday. The SSI has found a workaround to this problem and sent out the payment a day earlier which invariably falls on any of the last two days of a month.
So Social Security recipients who are slated to get their payment on the first of July will this year get the payment on the last working day of June, which happens to fall on the thirtieth.
So SSI recipients this year will receive two payments in June on the first and the thirtieth of the month. While the first payment on the first of the month is for June, the July payment is being sent out on the 30th of the month.
Other than June, SSI recipients will also receive double payments in September and December, for October and January respectively. This schedule is also applicable for other payments whenever the date falls on a holiday. The full payment schedule released by the SSA reveals the full details.
Till Congress refused to raise the debt ceiling, the US government was in danger of defaulting on its financial obligation at the date that should have fallen as early as June this year. This has raised fears that the Social Security Administration was in danger of defaulting on its payments.
And if the US defaults on its debt, Social Security payments may be late or even missing. And the SSA has no clear-cut solutions to this issue or a definite answer. The US administration has not yet outlined a framework through which certain payments will be prioritized over others.
