How are my Social Security benefits taxed in retirement?

Whether your benefits are taxed depends on your provisional income — your adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest plus half of your Social Security. For a single filer, up to 50% of benefits become taxable above $25,000 of provisional income and up to 85% above $34,000; for married filing jointly the thresholds are $32,000 and $44,000. At most, 85% of your benefits are ever subject to federal income tax — never 100%. These thresholds are not indexed for inflation, so more retirees get taxed over time. You can reduce the hit by managing withdrawals from taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts to keep provisional income down, and by doing Roth conversions in low-income years before claiming. To see how withdrawal order affects your tax bill, explore wealthserene.com/tools/tax-strategies.