As an American worker, relinquishing part of your income to taxes is standard practice, but once you move out of the workforce, much of your retirement income is subject to taxes as well. Below are some possible taxes you could face in retirement.
Social Security Taxes
If you have income in addition to Social Security, you will likely lose a portion of your benefits to federal taxes. To determine if your Social Security benefit will be taxable, you need to determine your provisional income. This is your income outside of Social Security—including pension payments, traditional 401(k) and IRA withdrawals, and income from a part-time job—plus half of your yearly benefits. If your provisional income totals more than $25,000 for individuals and $32,000 for couples, 50% of your Social Security benefit will be taxable. If your provisional income exceeds $34,000 for individuals and $44,000 for couples, up to 85% of your Social Security benefit will be subject to tax.
Retirement Plan Penalties
A common tax deduction tactic among workers is to deposit money in an IRA shortly before filing taxes in order to defer paying income tax on the new contributions, but this is not an option after age 70 ½. Additionally, if you miss a required distribution from your retirement accounts after age 70 ½, you will incur a 50% penalty, which is added to the income tax due on retirement account distributions. However, Roth IRAs don’t have distribution requirements in retirement, and workers older than 70 ½ might be able to delay 401(k) distributions.
Taxes on Pension Income
With the possible exception of military or disability pension, you should expect to pay taxes on pension income. However, if you contributed after-tax dollars to your pension, you won’t be required to pay tax on that part of the contribution.
Taxes on Investment Sales
If you intend to sell some investments in retirement, expect to report that sale on your tax return as a short-term or long-term capital gain or loss. Long-term gains are generally taxed at a lower rate than other types of income, but you must hold the investment for at least a year and a day in order to qualify for long-term gains. Interest income and dividends will also continue to be taxed as they were before retirement.
