Tag: COLA

Social Security’s 2024 COLA, While Modest, Could Still Trigger Higher Taxes

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/10/13/social-securitys-2024-cola-while-modest-could-still-trigger-higher-taxes/

Excerpt:

And, as Mary Johnson, the league’s Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, highlighted in a call with ThinkAdvisor, there is also widespread concern about what the relatively modest 2024 COLA could mean for the taxes seniors pay on their federal government benefits.

As many as 26% of survey participants who have received Social Security for more than three years reported paying taxes on a portion of their benefits for the first time during the 2023 tax season — i.e., for tax year 2022.

“Because Social Security recipients received an even higher COLA of 8.7% in 2023, we expect more beneficiaries to become liable for federal income taxes on their Social Security benefits for the first time in the upcoming 2024 tax season,” Johnson warned.

….

“Up to 85% of Social Security benefits can be taxable when income exceeds certain thresholds,” Johnson explains. “Unlike other parts of the federal income tax code, though, the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits to taxation have never been adjusted for inflation.”

Author(s): John Manganaro

Publication Date: 13 Oct 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Social Security COLA for 2023 Estimated at 8.7%

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/09/13/social-security-cola-for-2023-estimated-at-8-7/

Excerpt:

The consumer price index data for August, released Tuesday, shows 8.3% inflation over the past 12 months before a seasonal adjustment and was 0.1% from July to August on a seasonally adjusted basis. In July, prices rose by 8.5% over 12 months and were unchanged from June.

Based on the new data through August, The Senior Citizens League estimates the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2023 could be 8.7%, lower than the 9.6% it predicted last month.

An 8.7% COLA would be the biggest increase since 1981. The adjustment would increase the average retiree benefit of $1,656 by $144.10, according to the league.

Author(s): Dinah Wisenberg Brin

Publication Date: 13 Sept 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Social Security COLA for 2022 Estimated Near 6%

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2021/09/14/social-security-cola-estimate-for-2022-dropped-to-6-to-6-1/

Excerpt:

The annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security benefits in 2022 — usually announced in October — could be 6% to 6.1%, the highest since 1983, based on Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index announcement, according to Social Security and Medicare policy analyst Mary Johnson of The Senior Citizens League, who estimated the 2022 COLA would be 6.2% a month ago.

The latest estimate, which is based on inflation of 0.3% in August, is especially significant as next year’s COLA will be calculated on the average of third-quarter, or July, August and September, CPI data.

…..

The consumer price index for all urban consumers in August rose 5.3% over the past 12 months, and 0.3% from the previous month, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. (The CPI includes food and energy.)

Author(s): Ginger Szala

Publication Date: 14 Sept 2021

Publication Site: Think Advisor