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Social Security Tax Torpedo Calculator

In a specific income window, every extra $1 you withdraw from an IRA drags up to $0.85 of your Social Security into taxable income too — so your real marginal tax rate can hit 40%+ while you think you're in the 12% or 22% bracket. See exactly where the torpedo zone sits for your numbers.

Your Inputs
Annual Social Security benefit (gross)$30.0K
$12.0K$70.0K
Other ordinary income (pension, part-time, interest)$10.0K
$0$80.0K
IRA / 401(k) withdrawal this year$20.0K
$0$80.0K
Effective Marginal Rate
22.2%
Federal tax on your NEXT $1,000 withdrawn
SS Currently Taxable
50%
Provisional income: $45.0K
Peak Torpedo Rate
23.3%
At ~$44.0K withdrawn
You're in the torpedo zone. Each extra dollar withdrawn is also making Social Security taxable, compounding the rate. Escape routes: spend from Roth or taxable accounts at the margin, or do Roth conversions in years before you claim SS.
Effective Marginal Rate vs. IRA Withdrawal
10%20%30%40%$0$20.0K$40.0K$60.0K$80.0K

The dot is your current withdrawal. The hump is the torpedo: the range where SS taxability stacks on top of your bracket. Federal only; 2026 brackets and the never-indexed 1983 provisional-income thresholds ($25.0K / $34.0K for your filing status).

This is one number. Your retirement is a system.

The free planner runs this calculation inside your full picture — taxes, Social Security, RMDs, and withdrawals together — and returns a ranked list of moves worth real dollars, each with the math shown.

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