How to Eliminate Tax on Social Security Benefits

You cannot make Social Security benefits tax-free by wishing them so, but you can control the one number that decides whether they are taxed: your provisional income. Every practical way to eliminate tax on Social Security benefits works by keeping that figure below the thresholds Congress set in 1983 and 1993 and never adjusted for inflation. A 2025 law also created a large new deduction for taxpayers 65 and older that wipes out federal tax on benefits for roughly 90 percent of recipients, though it phases out at higher incomes.¹

Start With the New Senior Deduction

For tax years 2025 through 2028, taxpayers age 65 or older can claim an enhanced deduction of $6,000 per person, or $12,000 for a married couple where both spouses qualify. It sits on top of the standard deduction or itemized deductions, and you can use it either way.²

The deduction phases out once modified adjusted gross income passes $75,000 for single filers or $150,000 for joint filers, and disappears entirely at higher levels.² Combined with the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for joint filers, plus the existing age-65 additional deduction, most retirees with modest incomes will owe no federal tax on their benefits.³

One important limit: the senior deduction reduces taxable income, not adjusted gross income. It does not change whether your benefits are counted as taxable in the first place. That determination still runs through the provisional income formula, which is where the real work happens if your income is above the phase-out or if you want to keep it there in future years.

The Provisional Income Formula

The IRS decides how much of your Social Security is taxable under Section 86 of the Internal Revenue Code. Take your adjusted gross income, add any tax-exempt interest (including municipal bond interest), then add half of your total Social Security benefits for the year. That sum is your provisional income.⁴

For single filers:

Below $25,000: none of your benefits are taxable.
$25,000 to $34,000: up to 50 percent become taxable.
Above $34,000: up to 85 percent become taxable.

For married couples filing jointly:

Below $32,000: none of your benefits are taxable.
$32,000 to $44,000: up to 50 percent become taxable.
Above $44,000: up to 85 percent become taxable.

These dollar amounts have not moved since they were set in 1983 and 1993.⁵ A couple with modest pensions and Social Security clears $32,000 easily. Every strategy that follows works by holding provisional income below one of these lines, or at least below the higher line.

Roth Withdrawals Do Not Count

Qualified distributions from a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k) are excluded from gross income entirely. They never touch your adjusted gross income, so they never enter the provisional income formula. To qualify, you generally need to be over 59½ and to have held the account for at least five years.⁶

This makes Roth accounts the single strongest lever for keeping Social Security untaxed. A retiree pulling $40,000 from a Roth to cover living expenses looks identical, on the provisional income line, to a retiree pulling nothing. Traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals do the opposite: every dollar you take out increases AGI and can push benefits from untaxed into the 50 or 85 percent range.

Convert Before You Claim

If you have retired from work but not yet started Social Security, your income is often at its lowest point. Converting traditional IRA or 401(k) funds to a Roth during that window pays tax now on the converted amount but removes those dollars from the provisional income calculation forever. The trick is sizing each conversion so it fills your current bracket without spilling into the next one. Every dollar moved is a dollar that will not inflate your provisional income once benefits begin.

Give From Your IRA Instead of Withdrawing

If you are 70½ or older with a traditional IRA, a qualified charitable distribution lets you transfer up to $111,000 per year directly to a qualifying charity. The transfer satisfies your required minimum distribution obligation but adds nothing to your adjusted gross income.⁷ The 2026 limit is indexed for inflation.⁸

This matters most for retirees who would otherwise take a required distribution they do not need, watch it inflate their AGI, and then donate part of it anyway. The QCD skips the middle step. Required minimum distributions generally begin at age 73,⁹ but QCDs are available starting at 70½, so you can start shrinking your traditional IRA balance early. Smaller balances mean smaller mandatory withdrawals later, which means less pressure on provisional income for years to come.

Defer Income With a QLAC

A Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract lets you move up to $210,000 from a traditional IRA or qualified plan into a deferred annuity that can wait until age 85 to start paying.¹⁰ While the money sits inside the contract, it is excluded from the balance used to calculate your required minimum distributions. Smaller required withdrawals mean lower AGI and lower provisional income during the years between retirement and the annuity’s start date.

The $210,000 cap is per person, so a married couple with separate accounts can shelter up to $420,000. The old rule that limited QLACs to 25 percent of your account balance was eliminated, leaving the dollar figure as the only constraint.

Two Traps That Quietly Raise Provisional Income

Municipal Bond Interest

Tax-exempt bond interest is invisible for regular federal income tax, but the provisional income formula adds it back in.⁴ A sizable muni bond portfolio can drive up to 85 percent of your benefits into taxable territory even though the interest itself is untaxed. Run the provisional income math on your muni holdings before assuming your benefits are safe.

Married Filing Separately

If you are married, file separately, and lived with your spouse at any point during the year, your base amount drops to zero. Every dollar of provisional income can trigger tax on up to 85 percent of your benefits.¹¹ Filing separately for unrelated reasons can create a much larger Social Security tax bill than couples expect.

The Lump-Sum Election for Retroactive Benefits

If Social Security pays you back benefits covering earlier years, the full amount normally lands on the current year’s return and can spike your provisional income well past the 85 percent line. The IRS lump-sum election lets you recalculate the taxable portion as if the back payments had arrived in the years they actually cover. You complete worksheets in IRS Publication 915 comparing the two methods and report the smaller taxable figure.¹²

Once you make the election, you cannot revoke it without IRS consent, so run both calculations before filing.¹²

State Taxes Are a Separate Question

The strategies above address federal tax. Most states do not tax Social Security benefits, either because they have no income tax or because they specifically exempt benefits. As of 2026, eight states impose some tax on Social Security, and most of those provide exemptions or income thresholds that protect lower and middle-income retirees. State rules do not always mirror the federal provisional income formula, so verify your own state’s treatment before assuming a federal strategy carries over.

1
Social Security Administration. Social Security Applauds Passage of Legislation Providing Historic Relief
2
Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Filing Season Updates and Resources for Seniors
3
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits
5
Social Security Administration. Social Security History – Social Security Amendments of 1983
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 408A – Roth IRAs
7
Congress.gov. Qualified Charitable Distributions From Individual Retirement Accounts
8
Cornell Law Institute. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
9
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1098-Q
11
Internal Revenue Service. Social Security Income
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915 – Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits