How to Report Your Social Security Income Yearly

You must record your Social Security earnings on the 1040 form.

If you receive income from Social Security, you must report that income to the IRS when you file your taxes. Even if those Social Security payments are not taxable, you should include them on your 1040 form. That means you should keep careful track of all the mail you receive from the Social Security Administration, especially the yearly 1099-SSA forms that detail your earnings for the prior year.

Things You'll Need

• SSA-1099 form
• 1040 form

Instructions

1. Gather copies of the 1099-SSA forms you received for yourself, and your spouse if you are married. You must report these Social Security earnings on your tax form.

2. Download a copy of the 1040 form from the IRS website. Enter the amount of your Social Security earnings on line 20a. Use the instructions included with the 1040 form to compute how much, if any, of those benefit are taxable and enter that amount on line 20b. You can also use a tax preparation software package like Turbo Tax or Tax Act to automatically compute your taxable Social Security benefits based on your total income.

3. Enter the rest of your income for the previous year, including any taxable interest, dividends and capital gains, and any wages if you are still working. Compute your total income for the year and use it to figure your taxable income and your tax liability.

References

• IRS: 1040 Form