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Greg Geisler
The Social Security "Tax Torpedo"
Guest Expert: Greg Geisler, PhD, CPA (Inactive), Indiana University

Ten million taxpayers are inside the Social Security benefits “tax torpedo”. This is where if more income is taken, more Social Security benefits are taxable. Such taxpayers can have a marginal federal tax rate of 40.7 percent  or 49.95 percent even though they don’t have very high taxable income.

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06.21.2022 - Torpedo

Attendees Rating:

Excellent (81%)
Average (1%)
Below Average (18%)

Attendees Comments:

A few comments from listeners:
Challenging subject, but good info to know and prepare clients for. My wife and I are in this 'SS $ Tax' situation and I now better understand why.
- Kevin P.

Excellent topic that is a subtle subject but can be very impactful. Thanks for bringing topic to the forefront
- James M.

I am not a financial planner or advisor. I've been tweeking my own tax spreadsheets over the years and used to lump all income into 1 category. Now that we started collecting SS benefits, I'm going to try to break out LT cap gains and QD's from ordinary income to make it easier to avoid the "Tax Torpedo".
Fred H.

I thought the explanation of the push through of additional tax on Social Security and Capital Gains interaction was well done
- Frederick S.

Social Security tax planning should be incorporated into your practice for all years that clients are taking or planning to take Social Security income.
- John S.

Learned more about provisional income strategies, how IRMAA comes into play, and how to better present the "Torpedo" to clients/prospects
- Darian D.

Did not know the medicare part b is based on income two years ago and how important it is for tax planning for those borderline next bracket income.
- Teresa D.

First time I have seen it explained the way Greg did!!!!
- Doug L.
Comments
A few comments from listeners:
Challenging subject, but good info to know and prepare clients for. My wife and I are in this 'SS $ Tax' situation and I now better understand why.
- Kevin P.

Excellent topic that is a subtle subject but can be very impactful. Thanks for bringing topic to the forefront
- James M.

I am not a financial planner or advisor. I've been tweeking my own tax spreadsheets over the years and used to lump all income into 1 category. Now that we started collecting SS benefits, I'm going to try to break out LT cap gains and QD's from ordinary income to make it easier to avoid the "Tax Torpedo".
Fred H.

I thought the explanation of the push through of additional tax on Social Security and Capital Gains interaction was well done
- Frederick S.

Social Security tax planning should be incorporated into your practice for all years that clients are taking or planning to take Social Security income.
- John S.

Learned more about provisional income strategies, how IRMAA comes into play, and how to better present the "Torpedo" to clients/prospects
- Darian D.

Did not know the medicare part b is based on income two years ago and how important it is for tax planning for those borderline next bracket income.
- Teresa D.

First time I have seen it explained the way Greg did!!!!
- Doug L.