Do Roth IRA Withdrawals Count as Income for Social Security?

Qualified withdrawals from a Roth IRA do not count as income for Social Security purposes. They stay off your adjusted gross income, which keeps them out of the formula the IRS uses to decide whether your benefits get taxed, and they are ignored by the earnings test that can reduce checks for people who claim early and keep working. The word doing the work in that answer is “qualified,” and the difference between a qualified withdrawal, a non-qualified one, and a Roth conversion changes the answer completely.

Why Qualified Roth Withdrawals Stay Invisible

The IRS decides how much of your Social Security check is taxable using a figure called combined income (sometimes provisional income). The formula: adjusted gross income, plus any tax-exempt interest such as municipal bond interest, plus half of your Social Security benefits for the year.1Social Security Administration. Must I Pay Taxes on Social Security Benefits? That total is what determines whether a portion of your benefits becomes taxable.

Qualified Roth distributions never land on the adjusted gross income line. Under federal law, a Roth IRA withdrawal is excluded from gross income as long as you are at least 59½ and have held a Roth IRA for at least five years.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs Because those dollars are invisible to combined income, you can draw from a Roth without pushing any portion of your Social Security benefits into the taxable column.

The reason is simple. Money that goes into a Roth IRA was taxed as ordinary income the year you contributed it. The tax happened on the way in, so it doesn’t happen on the way out.

The Income Thresholds That Tax Your Benefits

The combined income thresholds haven’t been adjusted for inflation since they were set in the 1980s and 1990s, so more retirees cross them every year. For a single filer:

  • Below $25,000: none of your Social Security benefits are taxable.
  • $25,000 to $34,000: up to 50% of benefits can be included as taxable income.
  • Above $34,000: up to 85% of benefits can be included as taxable income.

For married couples filing jointly:

Married couples filing separately who lived together at any point during the year get the harshest treatment: the base amount is zero, and up to 85% of benefits can be taxed from the first dollar of combined income.4Internal Revenue Service. Social Security Income

One point people misread often: those 50% and 85% figures are not the tax rate. They describe the share of your benefit that gets added to your taxable income. Once that share is calculated, it is taxed at whatever marginal rate applies to the rest of your income. A $20,000 distribution from a traditional IRA adds $20,000 to combined income and can tip you into a higher tier. The same $20,000 pulled from a Roth adds nothing.

The Earnings Test Ignores Roth Withdrawals Entirely

If you claimed Social Security before your full retirement age and are still working, a separate rule called the retirement earnings test can reduce your monthly benefit. For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement age is 67.5Social Security Administration. Benefits Planner: Retirement – Born in 1960 or Later In 2026, the limits are:

  • Under full retirement age for the whole year: $1 withheld for every $2 earned above $24,480.
  • Reaching full retirement age during 2026: $1 withheld for every $3 earned above $65,160, counting only earnings in months before your birthday month.6Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test

The earnings test counts only earned income, meaning wages from an employer or net self-employment earnings.7eCFR. 20 CFR 404.429 – Earnings; Defined Roth IRA withdrawals, qualified or not, are investment income and fall outside that definition. You can withdraw any amount from a Roth at any age without triggering a reduction in your monthly Social Security check. Traditional IRA distributions, pensions, annuities, and investment gains are treated the same way for this test. Only actual work earnings count.

Benefits withheld under the earnings test aren’t gone for good. Once you reach full retirement age, Social Security recalculates your monthly payment upward to make up for the months benefits were withheld.8Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working The temporary reduction can still pinch, and a Roth withdrawal can fill the gap without deepening the cut.

When a Roth Withdrawal Does Count

The full exclusion above applies to qualified distributions. When a withdrawal fails either test — you’re under 59½, or the five-year holding period hasn’t been met — the earnings portion of the distribution is taxable as ordinary income and shows up on your adjusted gross income.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs That means it feeds directly into the combined income formula and can push more of your Social Security benefits into the taxable column.

The five-year clock has a quirk worth knowing about. It starts on January 1 of the tax year of your first Roth IRA contribution, not the actual date the money hit the account. Contribute for the 2025 tax year and the clock runs from January 1, 2025, with the period ending January 1, 2030. That start date carries forward to any Roth IRA you open later. If you’re approaching 59½ and haven’t opened one yet, getting the clock started sooner rather than later matters.

Roth Conversions Are Not Roth Withdrawals

This is where a lot of retirees get caught out. A Roth conversion, meaning a move of money from a traditional IRA or 401(k) into a Roth IRA, is taxable income in the year you do it. The converted amount goes straight onto your adjusted gross income, which means it raises your combined income and can cause more of your Social Security benefits to become taxable.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408A – Roth IRAs A $50,000 conversion while you’re collecting Social Security can easily carry a single filer past $34,000 in combined income, or a couple past $44,000, and land you in the 85% tier.

The long-term payoff can still be worth it, since future qualified withdrawals from the converted balance will be tax-free and invisible to combined income. Timing is the whole game. The lower-income years between retiring and claiming Social Security (or between retiring and required minimum distributions starting) are usually the cleanest window. Spreading conversions across several years in smaller pieces, rather than converting a large balance in one shot, keeps the added income from spiking any single tax return.

The Medicare Premium Angle

Medicare Part B and Part D premiums are income-tested through a surcharge called IRMAA, the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. Social Security sets your IRMAA using your modified adjusted gross income from two years earlier, so 2026 premiums are based on your 2024 tax return.9Medicare.gov. 2026 Medicare Costs Modified adjusted gross income for this purpose is your AGI plus any tax-exempt interest.10Social Security Administration. HI 01101.010 – Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI)

Because qualified Roth distributions never touch AGI, they don’t feed the MAGI figure used for IRMAA either. The standard Part B premium in 2026 is $202.90 per month, and individuals with MAGI above $109,000 (or couples above $218,000) pay surcharges that can add as much as $487.00 per month for Part B alone.11Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles Part D drug plans carry their own IRMAA tiers on the same income brackets.

Roth conversions can bite here too, on a delay. A large conversion in 2024 that inflates AGI shows up on your 2026 Medicare premiums two years later. A single filer whose conversion moves MAGI from $105,000 to $140,000 goes from no surcharge to an extra $202.90 per month for Part B and $37.50 for Part D, roughly $2,885 in added premiums for the year. A qualified Roth withdrawal in that same year would have added zero.