As tax season swings into full gear, Americans are reluctantly crunching the numbers to see just how much of their hard-earned money they will have to fork over to the government this year. But thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts (WFTC), which President Donald Trump signed into law last July, that number will be significantly lower for many Americans, including most seniors.
Delivering on one of Trump’s key 2024 campaign promises, the WFTC effectively eliminates taxes owed on Social Security for nearly 90 percent of beneficiaries. For decades, retirees have been forced to pay taxes on benefits they already earned and paid into over a lifetime of work. The new law finally provides meaningful relief by creating a powerful new tax deduction for Americans age 65 and older, beginning with the 2025 tax year.
Under the law, seniors are now eligible for an additional deduction of up to $6,000 per individual, or up to $12,000 for married couples where both spouses qualify. This deduction is applied on top of the standard deduction or itemized deductions.
For an estimated 88 percent of retirees, that reduction in taxable income is enough to completely eliminate any federal income tax owed on their Social Security benefits. While the technical formula for taxing Social Security has not been repealed, the real-world result is that the vast majority of seniors will pay nothing at all.
As seniors prepare for the upcoming tax season, claiming this benefit is straightforward. Anyone age 65 or older should ensure the new senior deduction is included when filing their federal return. No special application is required. Tax software and professional preparers will incorporate the deduction automatically, but it is wise for filers to double-check that it has been applied correctly. Keeping accurate records of retirement income will help ensure seniors receive the full benefit they earned.
Beyond delivering targeted relief to seniors, the WFTC locks in middle-class tax cuts, expands relief for families, lowers the tax burden on small businesses, and encourages savings and investment. Together, these provisions strengthen retirement security while supporting economic growth and job creation throughout the economy.
AMAC Action strongly backed the WFTC from the start, recognizing the real and lasting impact it would have on seniors and working Americans. AMAC members made their voices heard at a critical moment, participating in a targeted, last-minute grassroots campaign that helped push the legislation over the finish line. That effort demonstrated once again the power of engaged citizens standing up for common-sense policies that reward work and protect retirement.
With Tax Day now just over two months away, this legislation offers welcome news and real peace of mind for seniors who are carefully managing their finances in retirement. President Trump promised to put seniors first, to protect Social Security, and to stop Washington from taking more than its fair share. The Working Families Tax Cuts prove that those promises were not just words, but commitments fulfilled. As has become the President’s mantra, “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
I’m waiting with bated breath to see how the Democrats try and take that money back. The only ones they care about are criminals and transgendered weirdos.
You are so correct. My refund doubled this year and income didn’t change. Much bigger refunds this year all the way around. I had to keep double checking my returns before I filed them. Thank you, President Trump!!! MAGA
Thank you, President Trump.
And here ole Joe Autopen kept saying Trump will eliminate Soc Sec altogether. Liar liar Joe. You are the one that put social security in danger by allowing illegals to qualify for benefits. And using SS money to buy them houses and pay their rent. Another Triumph for Trump in spite of the United opposition by the democrats. They want to destroy the elderly and the children in this country and the country with it with their protest and fraud they allowed to be committed with our tax money.
The “technical formula” for taxing Social Security has to be repealed,.
The new law doesn’t change the taxablility of social security benefits. It adds a senior deduction of $6,000 per senior age 65 or older with adjusted gross income under $75,000 if single or $150,000 if married filing jointly. Those with Adjusted Gross income greater than that amount will have the $6,000/$12,000 phased out over the next $100,000 of income. It is misleading to say that it eliminates tax on social security benefits. It will help Seniors with reducing income taxes. It doesn’t matter if the taxpayer is currently collecting social security or not. It is in no way changing the computation of tax on social security. I am not against the new law but let’s be transparant and not mislead the public.
President Trump is for the average citizen, not the know-it-all ELITES who couldn’t care less about those they HATE for being patriotic and moral!
Right on Mr. President!
Thank you President Trump. I was very surprised and happy to see the bottom line on my return this year. It was most welcome and sorely needed. I am truly grateful.
If Congress ever lets this happen, they will take it back as soon as they can to fund whatever pet project they want. Like a study for why birds fly south in the winter, or why spiders in Uganda eat insects. It’s pretty disgusting the fraud, waste and abuse they have perpetuated over the years.
I filed my 2025 tax return and although my income was slightly larger than last year I owed no taxes! Last year I owed a small amount but it appears Trump came through on this one!
I’m not there yet, but just a few short years away, thanks President Trump.
I wonder how many radical left persons receiving this benefit will truly be thankful? Probably none and that’s where I wish there was a way to remove this benefit from them. JMO
Seniors should not be paying federal income taxes on any social security income, period. That may be a hard sell for Congress, but why?
President Trump ‘FOR THE WIN”!!!
We got back double what we got last year. Thank you Mr President.
This statement should be on billboards everywhere.
“Every elected democratic voted ???? to raise your taxes. STOP voting for democrats”
Seniors Citizens are a vulnerable group of individuals, always have been! Important they be well looked after because if wasn’t for them the rest would not be enjoying what they are today. These paved the way! Having watched what the Biden Administration did or didn’t do vs what President Trump’s doing there’s a stark difference! Biden and his Administration would have totally destroyed life for Seniors, as many were feeling the heavy backhanded actions. Thank heavens President Trump is working tirelessly to ensure Seniors are protected and will be given a secured future that is manageable! Bravo for President Trump!
It would have been nice if Congress had done what President Trump asked for and really made all Social Security income exempt, but couples whose combined Social Security income is more than $1,000/month are still going to pay tax on some of it. The entire Big Beautiful Bill is wonderful, but that was a disappointment.
Interesting. I received my 2.8% cost of living increase in January, along with my 10% increase in Medicare part B. (so, a 7.2% overall deduction in my SS income.).
But…after that I was told I will be paying a higher premium because my overall income was too high in 2024. Something called Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts. ( I am 73 and work to help make ends meet.) So, they hit me up for a deduction on my Medicare Part B for 2024 AND a deduction on my Medicare Part D. When it was all said and done, I will make $3600.00 LESS in SS this year! Maybe Trump’s deal will let me break even, but I doubt it!
Oh yeh, as a caveat later in the letter, they said ” If you are at full retirement age or older you may keep ALL of your benefits no matter how much you earn. ” YEH….RIGHT!!! I called them and they said IRMAA is from the IRS. Why does the IRS have a say in my SS stipend? I have been paying them for almost 55+ years!
Thanks for this tax break. It has been hard to keep up with rising costs; Thanks President Donald J. Trump.
Its not “No Tax on SS”. Huge misnomer for many retires with middle class income. Instead its more like wealth distribution. The 10% are hurting to.!!!
90% of Seniors.Who and how will this be processed? And how does one know if they are eligible?.
Everything President Trump said he would do, he is trying to do. I applaud him for that. What I do wish he would stop is angering everyone with his childish name calling and making fun of previous presidents like he did with Barack and Michelle O’Bama this week. That is totally unnecessary and will turn many against him and the GOP. When I saw that, I was horrified. We need ALL the people we can get to vote for Republicans this year and he definitely is not helping with some of his ridiculous remarks and antics. All the good he has done can be wiped away in a heartbeat if he and other Republicans are not careful.
Big break for seniors that the Lame Stream Media will never talk about.
When you have no other income than SS, I don’t think it will matter, but who knows – haven’t done my ‘taxes’ yet….
Social Security benefits should not be taxed at all. We paid into it via a tax on our earnings, we should not be taxed on a tax we paid. I would much prefer to get all the money paid into it by myself and my employers so I could invest it my self and not have to depend on the pittance the government doles out to me every month.
I live in Alachua county Florida, the Social security tax relief is great, but, all of my HEALTH INS, WENT UP EXPONENTIALLY, MY prescription drug plan more that doubled, MEDICARE INCREASED, AND MED-SUPP PLAN INCREASED. Property taxes are crazy, I hope My Governor DeSantis has his way with property taxes, they will be no more. So what little we have saved on taxes, has been gobbled up by Health Ins. Premium increases.
Except it phases out for anyone with a working spouse or a decent retirement income.
Being under 65, THIS DOESN’T HELP ME ONE IOTA
I got back $1500 last year and this year I get a refund of $2,800 — thanks to the extra $12,000 in deductions. A good deal for us older Americans on Social Security.
Thank you, President Trump! I just finished my filing and owe $0.00 in Federal taxes.
I’ll get every dollar withheld back.
Of course, when I mentioned this to my lib friends they still hate you but they’ll take advantage of the tax break. No surprise there!
God Bless You!
It’s about time. It took a renegade unreal politician, a man with true vision, to do this. What Every President since Kennedy should have done, stop ripping us off by taxing our SS, money we paid into already, money we already were taxed on when we earned it. That means EVERY President before Trump were totally worthless, useless, and corrupt, including Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden. None of them gave a damn about SS recipients, and thought it was ok to rip us off. While I’m happy Trump fixed this, how do we get retribution (NOT JUSTICE) for the trillions they have stolen from us? I want the responsible people to suffer, hurt, to be given cruel and unusual punishment, especially congressmen and women that at whatever point it was decided to tax our social security. They started using our once “untouchable” SS fund and the money paid into it as regular income for the government to spend. Remember in the late 1990s both congress and Clinton bragged about passing a so called “balanced budget”? That was because they took the SS funds paid in and made them part of the regular revenue of the federal government. Prior to that, every penny paid into the SS taken out of our paychecks was held in a separate fund that could ONLY could be used to pay SS benefits. Now, who knows what thewy do with it, but there was never talk of SS running out of money before the late 90s.And all along they made us pay income tax on it. Trump is ending a lot of BS that the feds have been doing to us, but no retribution upon those that screwed us. I know God takes vengeance on the evil, but what about the stupid that still hurt us through stupidity – they need punishment too.
Every time I read an article like this, I think of all the senior citizens that I have encountered that think their Social Security benefits will will tax free and thus they have underestimated their quarterly payments and now face a difficult financial situation. I can agree with your statement partially only when applying the elderly deduction and the standard deduction to SS benefits only but I find it hard to believe that 88% of benefit recipients have no other income which will indeed make some of the SS taxable, as in my case 85% of it. Even at the lowest tax bracket (12%) that $6000 only equates to $720 reduction in taxes. The standard deduction/itemized deductions have been available for years and I cannot understand the logic of using it to hype the myth of so many senior citizens not paying taxes on their Social Security.
I am a big Pres Trump supporter. But my income is same as last year, and I have to pay $2,000 more tax this year. I draw SS, am a 100% disabled Vet, but am not quite 65. So I get no break, am just paying more. Stinks.
Too bad we can’t only allow those deductions for Trump voters. Everyone who voted for democraps gets their tax on SS doubled. And no elected government officials are eligible for it either. Or anyone that worked directly for the Biden admin – wait, they should already be locked up, for forging Biden’s signature with an autopen unauthorized.
Thank you for this $12,000 deduction, but it did not illuminate SS tax. I think if you want to help seniors illuminate all Medicare premiums and deductibles: A, B, C, D, G. All these adjust inflation payment increasing income, but get eaten by insurance premium increase. I receive less than last year after paying all this premium and deductible. Seniors have to choose pay for insurance and medication or buy food.
I did a Roth conversion before this was announced later in the year. I didn’t take any income, but because it is counted as income my Social Security was fully taxed because I exceeded income limits. II hate all the qualifier rules. Either make it taxable or not.
The federal government needs to completely rewrite the social security program. A simple solution would be to keep the existing program for people are 50 and over and make it mandatory that people under 50 contribute to a special roth ira that has withdrawal provisions similar to what currently exist. The employer potion o the contributions would go to continue to fund the age 50 and over participants. Also, I would give the age 50 and over participants the option to join the under 50 age group and receive a future SSA benefit based on their work history frozen at the age they opted to be treated as below age 50.
I though they wouldn’t tax ss but turbo tax said they tax it if you have combined income is over $34000
Here in Michigan, it’s not a matter of if, but how the DemocRats in charge will steal that money and more from seniors and everyone else.
Unfortunately, all the hoo-rah about Mr. Trump “taking care of seniors and workers” fits the description of “smoke and mirrors.” The horrendous increase in length and complexity of completing a tax return is abominable. And I worked as a tax preparer for a national firm for several years. Yet I can’t cut through the “take 87% of line 34, enter on line 4, then subtract and if greater than zero, enter on line 53 then subtract….this is your deduction” garbage. It’s insane! Any tax savings are eaten by the necessity to hire a tax pro to sift through the instructions. Woe to anyone who isn’t fluent in “Form 1040.”
Social Security is a TAX we paid while working our whole lives!! Taxing it is a crime, a tax on a tax? And we’re supposed to “yay” about this b.s.? Sorry. Not gonna happen.
I appreciate this deduction, but it may increase debt…if this is going to work, and if America is going to survive, we have Got to Cut Wasteful Spending!!! Unfortunately, no Presidential or Congressional candidate can cut spending enough to really matter and also get reelected.
It is true this will help some retirees on SS, but I believe it is a minority. I retired at 64 and receive SS and my wife receives the spousal benefit. Between the two of us that equals roughly $58,000 a year. Add to about $3,600 in interest and $18,000 I take from my 401K each year and it is about $79,600 total. Due to the formula that calculates how much of my SS is taxable, it comes out that about $11,000 of the $58,000 SS is taxable. Add that $11,000 to the $21,600 from 401K/Interest and our total taxable income is about is about $32,600. Since this is less than the $34,700 standard deduction we pay zero tax. Now with this new additional $12,000 deduction I could take more from the 401K if I wanted to but other than that, it is of no help. I would guess this applies to most who are really retired and do not work. Now if you collect SS and still work, then this would probably help you. So being in this situation, as probably most are, it does nothing to offset the tariffs as there is no tax cut if you already don’t pay taxes anymore.
Great if you are 65. I’m 63….
The misinformation in this article about the Supplemental Deduction for Seniors is 98% wrong! The only requirement to be eligible for the $6K is to have completed at least 65 trips around the Sun and have less than $75K AGI. It has nothing to do with Social Security taxability or any other retirement income. It does not offset any income tax. It reduces overall taxable income. If the Senior taxpayer has over $32K in gross income, including half of their Social Security benefit, then up to 85% of their benefit will be taxable. For none of their benefit to be taxable, the gross income, including half of their benefit, must be below $25K. Then, with the Standard Deduction of $17750 plus the $6K, the Taxable income will be no more than $1250, depending on the amount of SS benefits received. It would be nice if the authors here stuck to facts and the verbiage in the tax code instead of their opinion. It was a challenge explaining the facts to taxpayers this past tax season because of all the misinformation that all platforms have been spouting. I thought that AMAC was better at explaining facts instead of opinions. Guess I was mistaken. As a side note, AARP said the same almost exact words as you did. They were wrong too.
Wife still works full-time (I’m seasonal) and started drawing SS. Have to pay an extra $8oo.
I’m a 71 year old senior. I had to go back to work this year because social security is too small to retire on. I had to use money I’d put aside to pay normal bills. Thank you, President Trump for the $6000 for seniors to deduct when doing our taxes. I’m so happy i voted for you a third time!!
Since the $6K senior deduction sunsets at the end of 2028, starting with our 2025 tax return, my wife and I are converting an extra $12k per year into our Roth account. That will also reduce the amount of RMD’s we will have when we reach age 73, while at the same time increasing a non-taxable nest egg for our later retirement years.
Not true when you have to add back in your SS income with others in the MAGI‼️ There’s a LOT of seniors getting screwed still‼️ They SHOULD HAVE made it a CREDIT, not a “deduction”. They are INTENTIONALLY making it sound better than it IS‼️????????????