Taxes when I retire?

[Kate]

Hi all,
I am having real difficulty trying to figure out what my tax situation will look like when I retire. I own my own house, single, 65 and kids are independent now. It looks like I'll get about $1200/month in pension, $200 in TIAA-CREF, and about $1300/month in ex-spousal SSI benefits at 66 and beyond. I know that only 50% of the SSI benefits will be taxed. Any of the calculators I've looked at seem way off. Any help appreciated! I may go to a tax professional for a one time estimate but was hoping to get a ballpark figure. I live in a state with no state income tax. Thanks!

[Yppej]

So you are not planning to take Social Security for yourself?

[sweetana3]

With the income shown, no SSI should be taxed.

Here is the info from irs.gov: Tax Formula. Here’s a quick way to find out if a taxpayer must pay taxes on their Social Security benefits: Add one-half of the Social Security income to all other income, including tax-exempt interest. Then compare that amount to the base amount for their filing status. If the total is more than the base amount, some of their benefits may be taxable.

Base Amounts. The three base amounts are:
$25,000 – if taxpayers are single, head of household, qualifying widow or widower with a dependent child or married filing separately and lived apart from their spouse for all of 2016
$32,000 – if they are married filing jointly
$0 – if they are married filing separately and lived with their spouse at any time during the year

[Rogar]

I probably can't do any better than the calculators. I would say that every year I spend $275 for a CPA to do my taxes. Actually, I think he contracts out the finer details, but he is familiar with my financial situations. For that I get about a 30 minute sit down review of the year any advice for the upcoming year. He is a good source not only for tax matters, but has offered advice on some legal issues as well as investment discussions. It is money well spent for me.

[dado potato]

Further to sweetana3 comments about federal income tax, there are 13 states which tax Social Security benefits: CO, CT, KS, MN, MO, MT, NE, NM, ND, RI, UT, VT, and WV.