Please....help me determine the taxable portion of social security for obamacare magi

[Quantum Sufficit]

Hi folks. I have visited a billion obamacare calculators online and none of them are straight out calculators that have you put in the various components of your income. They all say "enter your income" and then tell you "oh..we mean you Magi- see what is included here". It also appears Magi has different meanings for the IRS depending on what you are talking about.

Here are my numbers:

Social Security: 24,000
Qualified dividends 25,000
Municipal bond dividends- 6000

1. What is the MAGI for obamacare purposes so that I can get an accurate APTC for 2018?

Thank youl

[jim584672]

This should help you:
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf/..._summary13.pdf

[Quantum Sufficit]

thanks jim but the problem is, I do not know how much of the social security IS TAXABLE so I can add back what is not taxable to get to the MAGI number. The key question is, do qualified dividends count toward taxability of social security? If so, I know that 50%of you SS is taxable if you exceed 32 k "in taxable income" for a married couple. We have no kids and will claim the standard deduction for 2018. somewhere, the 24k standard deduction must come into play here also. I know we are in the 0% qualified dividend taxability bracket so I will not actually owe federal tax on anything except the possibility of the social security. This is key for our APTC because it determines magi

[medtech]

This site should help to calculate the amount of your social security that is taxable. How much of my social security benefit may be taxed? | Calculators by CalcXML

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quantum Sufficit thanks jim but the problem is, I do not know how much of the social security IS TAXABLE so I can add back what is not taxable to get to the MAGI number. The key question is, do qualified dividends count toward taxability of social security? If so, I know that 50%of you SS is taxable if you exceed 32 k "in taxable income" for a married couple. We have no kids and will claim the standard deduction for 2018. somewhere, the 24k standard deduction must come into play here also. I know we are in the 0% qualified dividend taxability bracket so I will not actually owe federal tax on anything except the possibility of the social security. This is key for our APTC because it determines magi

Your entire Social Security income will be included in your MAGI for the ACA. Whether it is taxable or not does not matter. Same for tax-exempt bond interest. Qualified dividends will also count against your MAGI# and the taxation of Social Security

[VanWinkle]

Appears by your figures, your MAGI will be 55,000. You need to control what ever income you have to stay under the amount needed for subsidy. Married filing joint for premium subsidy is over at about 65,000

[Quantum Sufficit]

Thanks for the response vanwinke. If you look at the info posted by jim above, it says "add back the nontaxable portion of ss", not all of social security.

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quantum Sufficit Thanks for the response vanwinke. If you look at the info posted by jim above, it says "add back the nontaxable portion of ss", not all of social security.

The taxable and the non-taxable added back = the total amount of Social Security. I am currently getting ACA subsidies and am very familiar with the income requirements to obtain maximum subsidies. The taxable is figured in the AGI. The non-taxable SS is added back to the AGI to arrive at the MAGI.

[VanWinkle]

https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/

You can also test what your premium subsidies will be based on your MAGI for 2018. Try the link above.

[kaneohe]

The formula in the link is a bit confusing and seemingly a bit convoluted until you realize that they are trying to make it simple by adding AGI from your tax return to a few other things (one of which is the non-taxable part of SS.
Read the left side of the chart................

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quantum Sufficit ......................The key question is, do qualified dividends count toward taxability of social security? If so, I know that 50%of you SS is taxable if you exceed 32 k "in taxable income" for a married couple. We have no kids and will claim the standard deduction for 2018. somewhere, the 24k standard deduction must come into play here also. ....................................i

Yes, QDIV (and any other income) count toward taxability of SS). Your 50%
and your statement about "taxable" income aren't quite right and your statement about the 24K std deduction playing a role , I believe , is not right. (It is true for your particular case but , generally there is an 85% component that comes in too)
Check out the worksheet here https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/conten...heet_1040i.pdf to see how it works. (assuming the new law didn't change things)

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohe Yes, QDIV (and any other income) count toward taxability of SS). Your 50% and your statement about "taxable" income aren't quite right and your statement about the 24K std deduction playing a role , I believe , is not right. (It is true for your particular case but , generally there is an 85% component that comes in too) Check out the worksheet here https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/conten...heet_1040i.pdf to see how it works. (assuming the new law didn't change things)

I thought OP was looking for how to figure his MAGI for the ACA? Maybe I misunderstood.

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VanWinkle I thought OP was looking for how to figure his MAGI for the ACA? Maybe I misunderstood.

Yes, you are correct, but OP made some statements about other related things that sounded like some light might be useful.

[Quantum Sufficit]

Thank you all. Alas, it appears I do not read as carefully as I should. The chart posted above explaining MAGI does include both taxable and non-taxable social security portions so I completed the application for 2018 correct but will receive less subsidy due to SS.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quantum Sufficit Thank you all. Alas, it appears I do not read as carefully as I should. The chart posted above explaining MAGI does include both taxable and non-taxable social security portions so I completed the application for 2018 correct but will receive less subsidy due to SS.

I believe you know what you think you now know.

That's how it's been working for me.

[VanWinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quantum Sufficit Thank you all. Alas, it appears I do not read as carefully as I should. The chart posted above explaining MAGI does include both taxable and non-taxable social security portions so I completed the application for 2018 correct but will receive less subsidy due to SS.

Welcome to the club, it is pretty confusing for all. Best to you.

VW

[Sue J]

Your question may already have been answered but I thought I'd post this illustration of what counts.

I found this to be a very clear explanation of the MAGI for ACA/Obamacare. It's a screenshot of the .pdf file. I've also attached the original .pdf.

[Quantum Sufficit]

Thanks sue! There it is all right there! 😀