Here is a sentence that surprises a lot of new retirees: yes, Social Security benefits can be taxed, and for 2026 up to 85 percent of what you receive can count as taxable income. Whether yours does depends on a single number the IRS calls combined income, and on two sets of thresholds that have not budged in decades. There is also a genuinely new piece this year: an extra deduction of up to $6,000 for taxpayers 65 and older that, for many retirees, cancels out much or all of the tax on their benefits.
Let’s walk through the 2026 rules the way they will actually hit your return next spring.
Step one: figure your combined income
The formula is simple arithmetic. Take your adjusted gross income (wages, pensions, IRA withdrawals, interest, dividends, and so on), add any tax-exempt interest such as municipal bond income, then add half of your Social Security benefits for the year. That total is your combined income, sometimes called provisional income. The IRS explains the calculation in its Social Security income FAQ.
Every January, SSA sends you a Form SSA-1099 showing exactly how much you received. That is the benefits number you plug into the formula.
Step two: compare it to the thresholds
For a single filer in 2026, none of your benefit is taxable if combined income is under $25,000. Between $25,000 and $34,000, up to 50 percent of your benefit can be taxable. Above $34,000, up to 85 percent can be. For a married couple filing jointly, the bands are $32,000 to $44,000 for the 50 percent tier, and above $44,000 for the 85 percent tier. The Social Security Administration lists the same brackets on its benefits and taxes page.
Two clarifications spare a lot of panic. First, “up to 85 percent taxable” does not mean the government takes 85 percent of your check. It means at most 85 cents of each benefit dollar gets added to your taxable income, where it is then taxed at your ordinary rate. Second, these thresholds are fixed in law and are not adjusted for inflation. They were set in 1983 and 1993 and have never moved, which is why a little more interest income or a slightly bigger IRA withdrawal pulls more retirees over the line every year.
The new senior deduction changes the bottom line
The taxation formula above did not change for 2026, but a law passed in July 2025 added something that works alongside it: an additional deduction of up to $6,000 for each taxpayer who is 65 or older by the end of the year, available for tax years 2025 through 2028. A married couple where both spouses qualify can deduct up to $12,000. You get it whether or not you itemize, and it stacks on top of the regular standard deduction and the existing extra amount for people 65 and up. The IRS describes the details on its page on the new deductions.
There is a phase-out. The deduction shrinks by 6 cents for every dollar of modified adjusted gross income above $75,000 for single filers or $150,000 for joint filers, disappearing entirely at higher incomes. Note what this deduction does and does not do: it does not change how much of your Social Security counts as taxable under the combined-income formula. It simply subtracts from your taxable income afterward, which for many middle-income retirees wipes out the tax that formula would otherwise generate.
Ways to manage the tax
Because the thresholds are fixed, timing is your main lever. Spreading a large IRA withdrawal across two tax years instead of one can keep combined income under a tier line in both years. Roth IRA withdrawals do not count in the formula at all, one more reason retirees like having some money in a Roth. And remember that tax-exempt bond interest, despite the name, does count in combined income, a trap that catches people who loaded up on munis specifically to avoid tax.
If you would rather not face a bill in April, you can have federal tax withheld from your benefit checks. File Form W-4V with SSA and choose withholding of 7, 10, 12, or 22 percent of each payment. Alternatively, you can make quarterly estimated payments. Either route beats an underpayment penalty.
Do not forget your state
Everything above is federal. Most states do not tax Social Security benefits at all, and the handful that still do generally offer exemptions or income-based carve-outs that spare typical retirees. If you live in a state with an income tax, a quick check of your state revenue department’s rules is worth the five minutes.
The honest summary for 2026: the old combined-income math still decides how much of your benefit lands on the 1040, the thresholds are as low and as frozen as ever, and the new senior deduction is the offsetting good news. Run your own numbers with the SSA-1099 in hand before you assume the worst, because for a large share of retirees the answer is still a smaller tax bill than they feared.
