Do IRA withdrawals count as income for Social Security? For the monthly benefit check itself, no. The Social Security Administration only looks at wages and self-employment income when deciding whether to withhold part of your benefit under the earnings test, and IRA distributions are not on that list. For taxes, the answer flips: traditional IRA withdrawals are ordinary income to the IRS, and that income feeds the formula that decides how much of your Social Security benefit is taxable. Large withdrawals can also raise your Medicare premiums two years later.
Why IRA Money Doesn’t Trigger the Earnings Test
If you claim Social Security before full retirement age and keep working, the SSA can temporarily withhold part of your benefit based on what you earn. In 2026, the threshold is $24,480 a year, and the SSA holds back $1 for every $2 you earn above it. In the year you reach full retirement age, the limit rises to $65,160 and the withholding drops to $1 for every $3 over.1Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working After full retirement age, the test disappears.
What matters for IRA holders is the definition of “earnings.” The SSA counts wages from a job and net self-employment income. It excludes pensions, annuities, investment earnings, interest, and capital gains.2Social Security Administration. How Work Affects Your Benefits IRA distributions fall on the excluded side because they aren’t pay for current work. You can pull any amount from a traditional or Roth IRA and your monthly check won’t shrink.
How Traditional IRA Withdrawals Make More of Your Benefit Taxable
The tax side is where the answer changes. The IRS decides how much of your Social Security benefit is subject to federal income tax using a “combined income” figure: your adjusted gross income, plus any tax-exempt interest, plus half of your Social Security benefits.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits Traditional IRA withdrawals are ordinary taxable income, so every dollar you take out lifts your adjusted gross income and, with it, your combined income.
Once combined income crosses the thresholds below, a portion of your Social Security benefit becomes taxable:
- Single filers with combined income of $25,000 to $34,000: up to 50% of the benefit may be taxable.
- Single filers above $34,000: up to 85% may be taxable.
- Joint filers at $32,000 to $44,000: up to 50% may be taxable.
- Joint filers above $44,000: up to 85% may be taxable.
These thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation since they were set in the 1980s and 1990s.4Internal Revenue Service. Social Security Income Even a modest traditional IRA distribution can push a retiree past them. A single filer receiving $20,000 in Social Security who takes a $30,000 traditional IRA distribution lands at roughly $40,000 in combined income, well into the 85% tier.
Roth IRA Withdrawals Usually Stay Off the Radar
Roth IRAs behave differently. Contributions go in after tax, and qualified distributions come out completely tax-free and never appear in adjusted gross income.5Internal Revenue Service. Roth IRAs Because they stay off the return, they don’t enter the combined income formula. You could take $50,000 from a Roth in a year and it would not push a single dollar of Social Security benefit into the taxable range.
The tax-free treatment depends on the distribution being qualified. That means you must be at least 59½, and five years must have passed since the start of the tax year of your first Roth contribution. A non-qualified distribution can leave the earnings portion taxable and possibly subject to a 10% early-distribution penalty.6Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B – Distributions From Individual Retirement Arrangements That taxable portion goes into adjusted gross income and can affect Social Security taxation the same way a traditional withdrawal would. Most long-time Roth holders past 59½ don’t run into this, but recent converters and early withdrawers should watch for it.
Required Minimum Distributions Can Change Your Tax Picture at 73
Federal law requires you to start taking money out of a traditional IRA at age 73. The amount is set each year by your account balance and an IRS life-expectancy table, and the required percentage rises as you age.7Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions Whether you need the cash or not, the distribution lands in your adjusted gross income.
For retirees who had been sitting comfortably below the combined income thresholds, that first required distribution can be the event that makes 50% or 85% of the Social Security benefit taxable. Skipping a required distribution carries its own cost: an excise tax equal to 25% of the shortfall, dropping to 10% if corrected within the window generally ending at the close of the second year after the tax was imposed.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Plans Roth IRAs have no lifetime required distributions for the original owner, which is part of why they’re useful for managing Social Security taxation later in retirement.
The Medicare Premium Side Effect
Social Security taxation isn’t the only cost tied to your income. Medicare adds an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, known as IRMAA, to Part B and Part D premiums when income crosses set levels. The figure Medicare uses is your modified adjusted gross income from two years earlier, so 2026 premiums are based on your 2024 return.9Social Security Administration. Modified Adjusted Gross Income
Traditional IRA withdrawals count toward that figure. In 2026, single filers pay the standard Part B premium of $202.90 per month at modified adjusted gross income of $109,000 or less; joint filers hold the standard rate up to $218,000. Above those levels, premiums rise in tiers, topping out at $689.90 per month for single filers at $500,000 or more and joint filers at $750,000 or more. Part D carries a parallel surcharge on top of your plan premium, running from $14.50 to $91.00 per month depending on the tier.10CMS.gov. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles A single large traditional IRA withdrawal, or a Roth conversion, can lift you into a higher IRMAA tier for a full year two years down the road.
Ways to Soften the Tax Hit
Qualified Charitable Distributions
If you’re at least 70½ and taking required distributions from a traditional IRA, a qualified charitable distribution lets you send up to $111,000 per year straight from your IRA to an eligible charity.11Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs – Notice 2025-67 The transfer counts toward your required distribution but is left out of gross income entirely.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
Because the money never enters your adjusted gross income, it doesn’t feed the Social Security combined income calculation and doesn’t count for IRMAA. If you already donate to charity, routing gifts through a qualified charitable distribution from a traditional IRA, rather than taking the distribution and writing a separate check, can lower the tax on your benefits and keep Medicare premiums flat. The funds must move directly from the IRA trustee to the charity; if they pass through your hands, the exclusion is lost.
Roth Conversions
Converting traditional IRA money to a Roth can help long-term, but the conversion itself is taxable in the year you do it. The converted amount lands in your adjusted gross income like any other traditional withdrawal, so it raises combined income for Social Security purposes and can push IRMAA up two years later.
The payoff comes afterward. Qualified Roth withdrawals stay outside both the combined income formula and the IRMAA calculation, and Roth IRAs carry no lifetime required distributions, so you avoid the forced income bump at 73. The math usually works best when the conversion happens in lower-income years, such as after you retire but before you claim Social Security or start required distributions, and when a large conversion is spread across several years to keep any single year from jumping a tax bracket or IRMAA tier.
State Taxes Are a Separate Question
Federal rules aren’t the whole story. Eight states currently tax Social Security benefits to some degree, each with its own thresholds and exemptions. In those states, traditional IRA withdrawals can raise state-level income the same way they raise federal adjusted gross income, and they can pull more of the benefit into state tax as well. Qualified Roth distributions generally stay outside state income calculations, though the treatment varies. Before making a large withdrawal or conversion, checking how your own state handles both IRA distributions and Social Security benefits is worth the time.