In less than two weeks, claimants will get the first installment of March Social Security Administration retirement payments, totaling up to $4,555.
On March 9, participants born between the first and the 10th will receive the first wave. Social Security retirement payments are delivered in three waves, each corresponding to the 10-day birth month block. Wednesdays are payments.
How Much Social Security Benefits Will You Receive?
According to the Social Security Administration’s timetable, the second batch of payments for those born between the 11th and 20th of a month will be given out a week later on March 16. March 23 sees the final wave.
These compensations vary depending on the age of retirement. 70-year-old retirees receive the most. The SSA says 67-year-old retirees get $3,627 and 62-year-olds $2,572.
The Senior Citizens League’s Social Security and Medicare policy expert, Mary Johnson, says this year’s near-record COLA of 8.7% will help many retirees struggling with high inflation and longer lifespans.
The hike will certainly push many Americans above the income thresholds at which benefits are taxed.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents to The Senior Citizens League study believe the income criteria that tax Social Security benefits should be updated to reflect current money.
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Taxable Benefits
Johnson notes that unlike income tax brackets and standard deductions, which are updated annually, Social Security income criteria have not been increased for inflation since benefits became taxable almost 40 years ago.
Johnson says older taxpayers consider this inability to change income criteria as double taxes and even ageist in the feedback we receive. The number of senior taxpayers who pay taxes on a portion of their benefits today is significantly more than the 10% projected in 1984, when the tax began effectively.
When their income exceeds $25,000 for single filers or $32,000 for couples filing jointly, Social Security recipients may owe taxes on up to 85% of their payments.
Johnson estimates that the $25,000 level would be $73,000 and the $32,000 level $93,200 if these income limits were modified annually like tax rates.
These taxes reduce pensioners’ income, according to 2020 Congressional Research Service data. Because of the exceptionally high COLAs in 2022 and 2023, Johnson expects benefit taxes to rise this tax season and next.
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