Introduction
You should receive a Form SSA-1099 showing in box 3 the total social security benefits paid to you. Box 4 will show the amount of any benefits you repaid in 2021. If you received railroad retirement benefits treated as social security, you should receive a Form RRB-1099
If you work as an employee in the United States, you must pay social security and Medicare taxes in most cases. Your payments of these taxes contribute to your coverage under the U.S. social security system. Your employer deducts these taxes from each wage payment. Your employer must deduct these taxes even if you do not expect to qualify for social security or Medicare benefits.
In general, U.S. social security and Medicare taxes apply to payments of wages for services performed as an employee in the United States, regardless of the citizenship or residence of either the employee or the employer. In limited situations, these taxes apply to wages for services performed outside the United States. Your employer should be able to tell you if social security and Medicare taxes apply to your wages. You cannot make voluntary social security payments if no taxes are due.
When you work for someone else, that employer takes Social Security taxes out of your paycheck and sends the money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). But things work a little differently for people who are self-employed.
If you work for someone else, Social Security taxes are deducted from your paycheck. The Social Security tax rate for 2022 is 6.2%, plus 1.45% for the Medicare tax. Your employer will match that amount over the year, and it will also report your Social Security wages to the government. When you retire or become disabled, the government uses your history of Social Security wages and tax credits to calculate the benefit payments you’ll receive.
This will help you assist taxpayers who have Social Security and equivalent railroad retirement benefits. These benefits may or may not be taxable.
The Social Security Administration issues Form SSA-1099, Social Security Benefit Statement, to Social Security benefit recipients.
Meaning
An SSA-1099 is a tax form that shows the total amount of benefits you received from Social Security in the previous year so you know how much Social Security income to report to IRS on your tax return.
⦁ The forms SSA-1099 are not available for people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
⦁ Noncitizens who live outside of the United States receive the SSA-1042S instead of the SSA-1099
How is social security taxed?
Is Social Security taxable? For most Americans, it is. That is, a majority of those who receive Social Security benefits pay income tax on up to half or even 85% of that money because their combined income from Social Security and other sources pushes them above the very low thresholds for taxes to kick in.1
But you can use some strategies, before and after you retire, to limit the amount of tax that you pay on Social Security benefits. Keep reading to find out what you can do, starting today, to minimize the amount of income tax that you pay after retiring.
Key notes to tax payer
⦁ Up to 50% of Social Security income is taxable for individuals with a total gross income including Social Security of at least $25,000 or couples filing jointly with a combined gross income of at least $32,000.
⦁ Up to 85% of Social Security benefits are taxable for an individual with a combined gross income of at least $34,000 or a couple filing jointly with a combined gross income of at least $44,000.1
⦁ Retirees who have little income other than Social Security generally won’t be taxed on their benefits. In fact, you may not even have to file a return.
⦁ Your focus should be on paying less in overall taxes on your combined income.
⦁ A tax-advantaged retirement account, such as a Roth IRA, can help.
Conclusion
⦁ When you’re self-employed, you’re considered both the employee and the employer. This means it’s your responsibility to withhold Social Security from your earnings, contributing the employer’s portion of Social Security as well as the individual’s portion
⦁ Instead of withholding Social Security taxes from each paycheck many self-employed people don’t get regular paychecks you pay all the Social Security taxes on your earnings when you file your annual federal income tax return. This amounts to both your contribution and your business’s contribution.
