The Impact Of Colas On Taxes
Cost of living adjustments help Social Security recipients weather the impact of rising prices, especially during periods of high inflation. However, not every future beneficiary will see their net income rise by the full amount of the COLA. The reason: More income can move individuals into a higher tax bracket and result in a heftier tax bill.
The IRS uses your “combined income”that is, adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half of your Social Security benefitto determine the tax status of your Social Security benefits. If you don’t receive significant income from wages or investments, you may not have to pay any tax on their monthly benefit. But that changes once your earnings exceed certain thresholds.
For instance, if you’re unmarried and have a combined income between $25,000 and $34,000 , up to 50% of your benefit is subject to income tax. And if your combined income is more than $34,000, up to 85% is subject to tax. If you’re married, up to 50% of your benefits are subject to tax if you have combined income between $32,000 and $44,000. Up to 85% of your Social Security payment is taxable if your income surpasses that mark.
Social Security Benefit Increase
The Social Security Administration announced October 13, 2022 that benefits will increase 8.7% in 2023 , the highest bump in more than 40 years.
According to SSA Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi, Medicare premiums are going down and Social Security benefits are going up in 2023, which will give seniors more peace of mind and breathing room. This years substantial Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is the first time in over a decade that Medicare premiums are not rising and shows that we can provide more support to older Americans who count on the benefits they have earned.”
How Much Does Social Security Go Up From 62 To 63
Monthly Social Security payments are reduced if you sign up at age 63, but by less than if you claim payments at age 62. A worker eligible for $1,000 monthly at age 66 would get $800 per month at age 63, a 20% pay cut. If your full retirement age is 67, you will get 25% less by signing up at age 63.
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Get Ssa Benefits While Living Abroad
U.S. citizens can travel to or live in most, but not all, foreign countries and still receive their Social Security benefits. You can find out if you can receive benefits overseas by using the Social Security Administrations payment verification tool. Once you access the tool, pick the country you’re visiting or living in from the drop-down menu options.
Does The Social Security Cola Formula Accurately Measure Inflation For Retirees
Yes and no.
The COLA formula is based on a broad measure compiled by the Labor Department known as the C.P.I.-W., which reflects price changes for a group of goods and services bought by working people, not retirees. Inflation affects retirees differently they tend to spend more on health care and housing and less on food, beverages and transportation.
Policy experts have debated proposals to replace the C.P.I.-W. with an alternate measure that aims to gauge the inflation experienced by seniors more accurately. That one, the C.P.I.-E. , has sometimes run about two-tenths of a percentage point higher than the C.P.I.-W. a meaningful difference as it compounds over many years of retirement. However, the C.P.I.-E. would not always yield a higher COLA. For example, the 5.9 percent COLA awarded for 2022 would have been 4.8 percent had C.P.I.-E. been in use, according to data from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
And the difference between the two measures has been shrinking. The C.P.I.-E. has been tracked since 1983, and during its first 20 years, it rose almost 0.4 percentage points per year faster than the C.P.I.-W., according to the center. But in the last 20 years, the gap declined to 0.05 percentage points.
The cost of medical care has been rising at a slower rate. At the same time, transportation costs have been rising more quickly but this is a category where older people are less affected, since they travel less.
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How Much Does Waiting Raise Your Social Security Benefits
As you can see, the specific amount of your benefits increase will depend on how long you wait after the age of 62 to claim your benefits. You can calculate how much waiting will raise your benefits by:
- Applying the appropriate increase or decrease to your primary insurance amount based on whether you claim early or late.
- Comparing your benefit at any age after 62 to the reduced benefit you’d have received had you claimed Social Security as soon as you were able.
The chart below also shows how much benefits would increase for each year you wait after age 62 until you hit age 70 if your primary benefit amount is $1,500.
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If You Claim at This Age Instead of 62 |
When Your FRA Is |
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Table calculations: Author.
Lost Or Stolen Federal Payments
Report your lost, missing, or stolen federal check to the agency that issued the payment. It’s usually one of these paying agencies. If your documentation indicates it’s a different agency, and you need its contact information, look in the A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.
To get an update on your claim, contact the Treasury Department Philadelphia Financial Center at 1-855-868-0151, option 1.
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Retirees Are Expected To Get The Biggest Social Security Cost
Social Security will soon announce the largest inflation adjustment to benefits in four decades a welcome development for millions of older Americans struggling to keep up with fast-rising living costs.
The cost-of-living adjustment for 2023 is likely to be around 8.7 percent, based on the latest government inflation figures. The final COLA, as the adjustment is known, will be released Thursday, when the federal government announces inflation figures for September. Medicare enrollees can anticipate some additional good news: The standard Part B premium, which is typically deducted from Social Security benefits, will decline next year.
The COLA, one of Social Securitys most valuable features, will give a significant boost to more than 70 million Americans next year. While retirement comes to mind when most people think about Social Security, the program plays a much broader role in providing economic security.
In August, the program paid benefits to 52.5 million people over age 65, but younger beneficiaries survivors of insured workers and recipients of disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income, the program for very low income people added 17.9 million people to the total, according to Social Security Administration data.
With an eye-popping COLA on the horizon, The New York Times examined the back story of Social Securitys inflation adjustment how it works, how it could be revised and how it affects pocketbooks.
How Much Does Waiting Until Full Retirement Age Raise Social Security Benefits
Because you can claim Social Security starting at 62, you need to figure out how much benefits go up if you wait until after 62 to start receiving them. This means you need to know what the early claiming penalty is if you get your benefits before FRA. The amount of your benefits reduction depends on just how early you claim benefits:
- Benefits are reduced by 5/9 of 1% per month for each of the first 36 months prior to FRA.
- Benefits are reduced by an additional 5/12 of 1% per month if you claim more than 36 months before FRA.
To calculate your benefits reduction:
- Multiply x .01) times the number of months before FRA that you claim benefits, up to 36 months.
- Multiply x .01) times additional months before FRA that you claim benefits before 36 months.
- Add these two numbers together.
If you claim exactly 36 months early, you’d reduce your benefits by x .01) x 36 = .20 or 20%. If you claim 48 months early, you’d reduce benefits by x .01) x 36) + x .01) x 12) = .25 or 25%.
The benefits reduction is about 6.7% for each of the first three years and 5% for each additional year thereafter. Looked at another way, for each year you wait after 62, you avoid the additional reduction in benefits that would have occurred had you claimed benefits as soon as you were able.
Wondering why the percentage increase is different from the percentage decrease ? It’s because you’re comparing the change to the original value, and $375 is a larger percentage of $1,125 than it is of $1,500.
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Do Social Security Benefits Increase Between 62 And 66
Contrary to what many people think, your payment will not automatically increase to 100 percent of your full retirement benefit when you reach full retirement age, which is 66 and 2 months for people born in 1955, 66 and 4 months for people born in 1956, and will incrementally rise to 67 over the next few years.
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What You Need To Know About The New Social Security Benefit Increase
For the 70 million Americans who receive Social Security, experts say the significant increase in benefits slated for 2023 is much-anticipated and much-welcomed.
Social Security recipients, most of whom are over age 65, have seen their payments increase almost every year for more than four decades to keep up with the cost of inflation. When inflation is low as its been over the past decade or so those cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, have been fairly mild. But last year, the increase was big, and this year its even bigger.
To help cover the rising cost of food, housing, health care and other essentials, the Social Security Administration announced Thursday that beneficiaries would receive an 8.7-percent increase in their monthly payments. In a sign that the Federal Reserves efforts have not yet worked to puncture the elevated inflation rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also released its consumer price index for September on Thursday, showing prices rose 8.2 percent over the last year.
The 8.7 percent cost-of-living increase to Social Security payments for 2023 will be the largest jump in more than 40 years. Graphic by Jenna Cohen and Megan McGrew.
The COLA for 2023 is the largest increase since 1981 when inflation was even higher than it is today and is the fourth-largest jump ever.
How To Receive Federal Benefits
To begin receiving your federal benefits, like Social Security or veterans benefits, you must sign up for electronic payments with direct deposit.
If You Have a Bank or Credit Union Account:
- Call the Go Direct Helpline at .
If You Don’t have a Bank or Credit Union Account:
- Direct Express debit card – a pre-paid debit card. Get help by calling the Go Direct Helpline at .
Make Changes to an Existing Direct Deposit Account:
On Go Direct’s FAQ page, learn how to make changes to an existing direct deposit account. You also may contact the federal agency that pays your benefit for help with your enrollment.
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Now You Understand How Much Waiting Raises Your Social Security Benefits
As you can see, waiting to claim Social Security benefits as long as possible results in a higher monthly income from Social Security — but it doesn’t necessarily result in receiving more money in total from the program.
Think about your likely lifespan, whether you can afford to wait to claim benefits, and whether you’d prefer less money at a younger age or more money later. Whatever you decide, make sure you don’t claim benefits until you understand how waiting raises your Social Security benefit so you can make an informed choice.
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How About Prescription Drug Costs Under Medicare They Eat Into Social Security Benefits
Most seniors prescription drugs are covered through Medicare Part D, and that program has not had a cap on the amounts that beneficiaries must pay out of pocket after deductibles are met. That can be a hardship for older people with very high drug costs. In 2020, 1.4 million Part D enrollees spent $2,000 or more out of pocket on drugs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The climate and health care bill that President Biden signed into law in August aims to start curbing those costs with a series of changes that will start phasing in next year.
In 2023, the Inflation Reduction Act curbs the soaring cost of insulin with a $35 monthly cap for Medicare enrollees. Also starting next year, drug makers will pay penalties for any price increase on a drug that exceeds the rate of general inflation.
The legislation takes a two-stage approach to capping total out-of-pocket costs. In 2024, Medicares requirement that enrollees pay 5 percent coinsurance above the Part D catastrophic threshold will be eliminated. That will provide important relief to retirees who now pay 5 percent of the cost of very expensive drugs for conditions such as cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and atrial fibrillation. And starting in 2025, a $2,000 total out-of-pocket cap takes effect.
The large COLA will push some retirees over income thresholds that require them to pay income taxes on part of their Social Security benefit.
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How Much Do You Have To Make To Get Maximum Social Security
To receive the maximum Social Security benefit, youd need to earn at least the maximum wage taxable by Social Security for 35 years and delay claiming the benefit until you reach 70. The earnings cap adjusts every year based on changes to the national average wage index and is $147,000 in 2022, up from $142,800 in 2021.
Continuing To Work Past Your Fra Could Increase Your Benefitsdepending
So will your monthly benefit go up if you continue to have earned income? That might be the case if your current salary is higher than one of your 35 highest-earning years to date. Here are a couple of examples.
First, let’s say that you earned the maximum taxable income each of those 35 years. If so, you’re already entitled to the maximum benefit. So while there may be a lot of other positive reasons for continuing to work, it won’t get you a higher monthly Social Security payment.
But now let’s say you earned less in the early part of your career and earnings in one or more of those years were lower than the maximum annual taxable income. If what you’re earning now is higher than what you earned in one of your past 35 highest-earning years that have been indexed for wage inflation, your current higher income will replace one of the lower-earning years.
Since Social Security benefits are recalculated yearly, this added income could result in a higher monthly payment. But because there are 35 years of income included in the calculation to determine income over your remaining life expectancy from Social Security, you may not see much of a difference in your monthly payment. Fortunately, Social Security payments are adjusted for inflation, so every little increase can add up over time.
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Average Retiree Social Security Benefit Since 2002
Theres no better way to see how much the COLA has helped seniors than to look at the annual average payouts in black and white. Heres the list of average benefits paid to retirees over the past two decades:
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Since Social Security Is Adjusted For Inflation Why Do People Say Retirees Live On Fixed Incomes
Its really not an accurate description.
People who receive Social Security simply dont live on fixed incomes, said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. They have this wonderful benefit that increases over time when consumer prices rise.
That doesnt mean Social Security is adequate to meet the needs of retirees. For example, the Elder Index, which measures the cost of living for older Americans, shows that for a single person who rents a home, the average benefit covered just 68 percent of basic living expenses in 2021 housing, food, transportation and health care. For a married older couple, the comparable figure was 81 percent.
Social Security does not and will not cover necessary expenses as long as benefit increases are tagged to the cost of living and nothing more, said Jan Mutchler, a professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which created the index.
Census Bureau data released last month showed that the rate of poverty increased among older Americans, despite improvement among all other age groups. The poverty rate among Americans 65 and older rose to 10.3 percent in 2021 from 8.9 percent in 2020. Looked at another way, 5.8 million older Americans were below the federal poverty level in 2021 a figure that increased by 950,000 last year.
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