IRA and Social Security

[tomz]

I know you have to pay income tax when you withdraw from an IRA. I've searched the archives and can't find an answer to the following question:

Do you have to pay Social Security and Medicare tax when you take an IRA distribution or is it exempt?

Thanks.

 

[Martha]

There is no social security/medicare tax to pay on your IRA distributions. Only income tax (unless of course it is a Roth IRA, then no income tax either).

What gets confusing is that distributions from a taxable IRA may create a situation where you end up paying income tax on part of the social security benefits you collect. There has been a lot of discussion on that issue on this forum lately.

 

[tomz]

Thanks, Martha. I have been following the discussions on having to pay tax on social security. Just one more thing to digest in my ER planning.