Capital gains and other kinds of income- rental payments, inheritances, pensions, interest, or dividends—do not reduce your Social Security payments. So, selling investment property may leave you with a tax bill but won't affect your SSA benefits.
The site's president, Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc., responded, “As long as what you're receiving is a Social Security benefit and not Supplemental Security Income (SSI), then the fact that you sold your house won't have any effect on ...
Income you receive from renting rooms or apartments does not count for Social Security purposes unless you provide personal services for the convenience of the occupant.
If you own the property for less than a year before selling, any gain is considered a short-term capital gain, which is taxed like your regular income. If you owned the property for more than a year, the profit is considered a long-term capital gain, which is generally lower than income tax and may even be zero.
Current tax law does not allow you to take a capital gains tax break based on your age. In the past, the IRS granted people over the age of 55 a tax exemption for home sales, though this exclusion was eliminated in 1997 in favor of the expanded exemption for all homeowners.
Pension payments, annuities, and the interest or dividends from your savings and investments are not earnings for Social Security purposes. You may need to pay income tax, but you do not pay Social Security taxes.
Rental income is generally considered ordinary income for federal taxes, and can get taxed at various rates ranging between 10% to 37% depending on individual tax brackets.
If you are under full retirement age for the entire year, we deduct $1 from your benefit payments for every $2 you earn above the annual limit. For 2025, that limit is $23,400. In the year you reach full retirement age, we deduct $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above a different limit.
What income counts…and when do we count it? If you work for someone else, only your wages count toward Social Security's earnings limits. If you're self-employed, we count only your net earnings from self-employment.
Reported sale
Taxpayers who don't qualify to exclude all of the taxable gain from their income must report the gain from the sale of their home when they file their tax return. Anyone who chooses not to claim the exclusion must report the taxable gain on their tax return.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER I SELL MY REAL AND/OR PERSONAL PROPERTY? You will have to pay back some or all of the SSI benefits you received while trying to sell the property. You may continue to get SSI benefits. Contact your local Social Security office to find out if your SSI benefits will continue after the sale.
Is Rental Income Earned Income? Rental income is typically considered unearned income by tax authorities like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Types of income that are not wages include capital gains, gifts, inheritances, investment income, and jury duty pay.
Since asset ownership and unearned (passive or rental) income do not threaten a recipient's SSDI benefits, buying and selling property should not cause concern.
At What Age Can You Stop Filing Taxes? Taxes aren't determined by age, so you will never age out of paying taxes. People who are 65 or older at the end of 2024 have to file a return for tax year 2024 (which is due in 2025) if their gross income is $16,550 or higher.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
Rental real estate can be a good source of retirement income. The relative inefficiency of the real estate market can produce bargains that offer strong returns. Do so before you retire if you have to borrow to buy a rental property. Choosing a good location is more important than finding the cheapest property.
Rental income you receive from real estate does not count for Social Security purposes unless: You receive rental income in the course of your trade or business as a real estate dealer (see §§1214-1215); Services are rendered primarily for the convenience of the occupant of the premises (see §1218); or.
High-Income Earners
High-income employees are not technically exempt from Social Security taxes, but part of their income is. In 2024, every dollar of taxable income someone makes above $168,600 (up from $160,200 in 2023) will effectively be exempt from Social Security taxes.
For the Social Security Administration (SSA) earnings test, "income" specifically refers to work earnings.
A few options to legally avoid paying capital gains tax on investment property include buying your property with a retirement account, converting the property from an investment property to a primary residence, utilizing tax harvesting, and using Section 1031 of the IRS code for deferring taxes.
As of 2022, for a single filer aged 65 or older, if their total income is less than $40,000 (or $80,000 for couples), they don't owe any long-term capital gains tax.
If you do not qualify for the exclusion or choose not to take the exclusion, you may owe tax on the gain. Your gain is usually the difference between what you paid for your home and the sale amount. Use Selling Your Home (IRS Publication 523) to: Determine if you have a gain or loss on the sale of your home.