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Dear Savvy Senior,

I understand that a portion of my Social Security benefits may be taxable when I retire. Can you tell me how to calculate this?

– Ready to Retire

Dear Ready,

Whether or not you’ll be required to pay federal income tax on your Social Security benefits will depend on your income and filing status. About 35% of Social Security recipients have total incomes high enough to trigger federal income tax on their benefits.

To figure out if your benefits will be taxable, you’ll need to add up all of your “provisional income,” which includes wages, taxable and non-taxable i...