Although it may come as a surprise for many seniors, Social Security benefits are sometimes taxed on the federal level. In fact, seniors lose billions of dollars each year due to the taxes they owe on their retirement benefits. And the amount they’ll have to pay will be much higher in 2022.
In fact, according to The Senior Citizens League, retirees will collectively pay an extra $10.5 billion in taxes on their retirement benefits in 2022 compared to the amount paid in 2021. That is based on the 2021 Social Security Trustees Report, indicating that the program will collect more than $45 billion in revenue in 2022, up from $34.5 billion in 2021.
According to The Senior Citizens League, there’s one big reason retirees will pay more than $10.5 billion in additional Social Security taxes in 2022 than they owed the year prior.
“That big jump is primarily due to the rising number of new retirees with higher incomes,” Mary Johnson, a Social Security analyst for The Senior Citizens League, said in a press release. It “does not factor in the impacts of the 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment received in 2022 because that affects taxes paid in the 2023 tax season.”
