Used 1040SR worksheet for taxable social security for 2023, and got it wrong.

[slackmax]

I think other people might have my problem. I got an unexpected refund check from the IRS for $423 with just 'refund' as the description. I waited for a week and a letter from the IRS came saying I miscalculated my taxable social security income for 2023, and they corrected it for me, which resulted in my refund.

The letter suggested I refer to IRS publication 915 for more details on how to figure out my taxable amount of ss.

I had used the worksheet in the 1040-SR booklet to come up with $4,200 taxable SS, but the IRS said I had zero taxable SS. A big difference, lol.

Did they change some rule? Is anyone else out there getting the same sort of refund, unexpectedly?

Thanks

[MDM]

Did the IRS provide their version of the Social Security Benefits Worksheet for comparison?

If not, then if you use the case study spreadsheet (or any other program) to reproduce your 2023 return, how does that program's worksheet compare with the pen & paper version?

[secondcor521]

Worksheet A on page 4 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf might be useful to try.

The basic rule is 1/2 your SS plus your other income < $25K or < $32K would mean no taxable SS.  But you might be one of the unusual cases like if you had an adoption or foreign earned income or something uncommon.

[slackmax]

Did the IRS provide their version of the Social Security Benefits Worksheet for comparison?

If not, then if you use the case study spreadsheet (or any other program) to reproduce your 2023 return, how does that program's worksheet compare with the pen & paper version?

Thanks. I thought I was using the IRS  version of the worksheet, since it was in their own tax booklet 1040-SR.

[slackmax]

Worksheet A on page 4 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf might be useful to try.

The basic rule is 1/2 your SS plus your other income < $25K or < $32K would mean no taxable SS.  But you might be one of the unusual cases like if you had an adoption or foreign earned income or something uncommon.

Plain vanilla income. SS, interest, and pension.  Sounds like everyone thinks the hardcopy version of the SS worksheet that you get inside the IRS 1040=SR booklet is wrong ? 

[MDM]

Did the IRS provide their version of the Social Security Benefits Worksheet for comparison?

If not, then if you use the case study spreadsheet (or any other program) to reproduce your 2023 return, how does that program's worksheet compare with the pen & paper version?

Thanks. I thought I was using the IRS  version of the worksheet, since it was in their own tax booklet 1040-SR.

The first link in the quoted post goes to the highlighted phrase in your reply.  Have you tried the CSS or any other estimation tool for comparison?

[MDM]

Worksheet A on page 4 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf might be useful to try.

The basic rule is 1/2 your SS plus your other income < $25K or < $32K would mean no taxable SS.  But you might be one of the unusual cases like if you had an adoption or foreign earned income or something uncommon.

Plain vanilla income. SS, interest, and pension.  Sounds like everyone thinks the hardcopy version of the SS worksheet that you get inside the IRS 1040=SR booklet is wrong ?

An alternative guess would be an error in the hand calculations, but there are even more possibilities.  Comparing your work to what some other tool gets (or just post your SS, interest, and pension amounts for others to calculate) is probably the best approach.

[slackmax]

Have not tried any tool. 

My SS in 2023 was  $31,350 (box 5 on ssa-1099)

taxable interest was $9,804

taxable pension income was  $7,944

What happens when you plug those numbers in?

Thanks 

[MDM]

Have not tried any tool. 

My SS in 2023 was  $31,350 (box 5 on ssa-1099)

taxable interest was $9,804

taxable pension income was  $7,944

What happens when you plug those numbers in?

Thanks

$4212 taxable SS.
AGI = $21,960
Taxable = $6,260
$628 federal tax.

[slackmax]

Have not tried any tool. 

My SS in 2023 was  $31,350 (box 5 on ssa-1099)

taxable interest was $9,804

taxable pension income was  $7,944

What happens when you plug those numbers in?

Thanks

$4212 taxable SS.
$626 federal tax.

Thanks

[MDM]

Edited previous post a bit.  Do all four numbers there now match yours?

[slackmax]

Yes, they are very close. I rounded some of my posted numbers, hence the slight difference, I suppose.   

[MDM]

Yes, they are very close. I rounded some of my posted numbers, hence the slight difference, I suppose.   

That brings us back to the original question:

Did the IRS provide their version of the Social Security Benefits Worksheet for comparison?

If they didn't, you might want to Get your tax records and transcripts.  If you paper-filed there might have been a transcription error or...?

[slackmax]

They did not show me what was wrong and what they 'fixed' for me on the worksheet. No worksheet data.

They did say I made an error calculating my taxable amount of SS. 

They also said I calculated both my AGI and my taxable income too high by approx $4,200.   

Also stated that they calculated my total tax due to be approx $200.

I may look into that transcript thing. Thanks for the link.