New $6,000 Senior Deduction Eases Social Security Tax for 2025-2028 as 85% of Benefits Can Still Be Taxed
Updated
Updated · Standard-Examiner · Aug 18
New $6,000 Senior Deduction Eases Social Security Tax for 2025-2028 as 85% of Benefits Can Still Be Taxed
2 articles · Updated · Standard-Examiner · Aug 18
Summary
A new $6,000 deduction for taxpayers 65 and older, created in the 2025 tax law, can erase Social Security tax for many lower- and middle-income retirees from 2025 through 2028.
The relief is limited because the underlying provisional-income formula remains unchanged: above $25,000 for single filers and $32,000 for couples, up to 50% and then 85% of benefits become taxable.
Those thresholds were set in the 1980s and 1990s and never indexed to inflation, pulling more retirees into taxation each year and creating the so-called 'tax torpedo' as extra income can trigger tax on additional benefits.
The deduction also phases out at higher incomes and expires after 2028, so it offers temporary cover rather than a permanent fix to Social Security benefit taxation.
Retirees can still reduce exposure by managing provisional income — for example through tax-deferred accounts or qualified Roth withdrawals — while Utah also offers a state Social Security tax credit that phases out.