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| Tax School Homepage |
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* $32,000 for married couples filing
jointly. * $25,000 for single, head of household, qualifying widow/widower with a dependent child, or married individuals filing separately who did not live with their spouses at any time during the year. * $0 for married persons filing separately who lived together during the year. |
| The Federal Contributions Act (FICA) tax includes the social security tax and Medicare tax. Hence, your income and filing status affect whether you must pay taxes on your social security. Consequently, if your total income is more than the base amount for your filing status, then some of your benefits may be taxable. Now when social security is your only source of income, then this is a different story since your social security benefits may not be taxable and you may not even need to file a federal income tax return. |
| To illustrate further, if you received Social Security benefits and other income, your benefits will not be taxable unless your MAGI is more than the base amount for your filing status. Another thing, if you and your child both received benefits, but the check for your child was made out in your name, you must use only your own portion of the social security benefits in figuring if any part is taxable to you. If you are married and file a joint return, you and your spouse must combine your incomes and social security benefits when figuring the taxable portion of your benefits. Additionally, even if your spouse did not receive any benefits, you must add your spouse's income to yours when figuring the taxable part if filing a joint return. |
| Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) |
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For 2014 and 2015, your total contributions to all of
your traditional and Roth IRAs cannot be more than * $5,500 ($6,500 if you’re age 50 or older), or * your taxable compensation for the year, if your compensation was less than this dollar limit. The IRA contribution limit does not apply to rollover contributions, qualified reservist repayments and claiming a tax deduction for your IRA contribution |
| Your traditional IRA contributions may be tax-deductible. The deduction may be limited if you or your spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work and your income exceeds certain levels. The same general contribution limit applies to both Roth and traditional IRAs. However, your Roth IRA contribution might be limited based on your filing status and income. You can’t make regular contributions to a traditional IRA in the year you reach 70½ and older. However, you can still contribute to a Roth IRA and make rollover contributions to a Roth or traditional IRA regardless of your age. If you file a joint return, you and your spouse can each make IRA contributions even if only one of you has taxable compensation. The amount of your combined contributions can’t be more than the taxable compensation reported on your joint return. It doesn’t matter which spouse earned the compensation. If neither spouse participated in a retirement plan at work, all of your contributions will be deductible. |
| Copyright © 2014 [Hera's Income Tax School]. All Annual Federal Tax Refresher Course rights reserved. |
| Revised: 05/28/15 |
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