Last Updated: September 9, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

Is my Social Security taxed if I also get a federal pension? Almost always, yes, and usually at the maximum rate. The federal pension does not shrink your Social Security check anymore, but it does count toward the income test that decides how much of that check the IRS taxes. We ran the IRS worksheet for 16 FERS retiree scenarios so you can find yours.

Your Questions, Answered

If I get a federal pension, will my Social Security definitely be taxed?

Almost certainly some of it, yes. The income line where Social Security starts getting taxed is $25,000 for a single filer and $32,000 for a married couple, and those lines have not moved since the 1980s. A FERS or CSRS pension counts in full toward that test, so a pension alone usually pushes you over it. Fully untaxed Social Security is realistic only with a small pension and no other income.

Does my federal pension reduce the amount of Social Security I receive?

No. That was the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, and the Social Security Fairness Act repealed both on January 5, 2025. Your pension no longer shrinks your Social Security check. Whether your check gets taxed is a separate question with a separate formula, and that is what this post covers.

For the repeal details, see our Social Security Fairness Act guide.

What is provisional income and how do I calculate mine?

Provisional income, which the IRS also calls combined income, is your adjusted gross income (including your pension and any Traditional TSP withdrawals) plus tax-exempt interest plus half of your annual Social Security benefit. Compare it to $25,000 and $34,000 if you file single, or $32,000 and $44,000 if you file jointly. Below the first line, none of your benefit is taxed. Between the lines, up to 50% is. Above the second line, up to 85% is.

Is the FERS Special Retirement Supplement taxed like Social Security?

No. The FERS supplement is fully taxable ordinary income, the same as your annuity. It does not go through the 0, 50, and 85 percent formula at all. It simply adds to your other income, which means it can push your actual Social Security into a higher taxable tier once you start claiming at 62 or later.

Our supplement-to-Social-Security timing guide covers that handoff.

Does a TSP withdrawal make more of my Social Security taxable?

A Traditional TSP withdrawal does. It counts in full toward adjusted gross income, so it raises provisional income dollar for dollar. In our computed table, a $20,000 Traditional withdrawal moves a single retiree with a $30,000 pension from 47% of Social Security taxed to the 85% ceiling, an extra $9,100 of benefits counted as income from one decision.

Does a Roth TSP or Roth IRA withdrawal count against my Social Security taxation?

No. Qualified Roth withdrawals are excluded from adjusted gross income, so the provisional income formula never sees them. That makes withdrawal sequencing the one lever a retiree fully controls: pulling from Roth instead of Traditional in a year you sit near a threshold keeps more of your Social Security untaxed.

Does the new $6,000 senior deduction make my Social Security tax-free?

No. The OBBBA senior deduction ($6,000 per person age 65 and up for tax years 2025 through 2028, phasing out above $75,000 single and $150,000 joint) reduces taxable income after the Social Security inclusion math is already done. It can shrink or zero out the resulting bill for a lower-income retiree, but the share of your benefit counted as income does not change.

The full phase-out math is in our senior deduction breakdown.

Can I control how much tax is withheld from my Social Security check?

Yes, in four fixed steps. File Form W-4V with Social Security and pick 7, 10, 12, or 22 percent. There is no custom percentage and no flat-dollar option. Many federal retirees under-withhold in their first retirement year because they assume Social Security is covered the way payroll withholding was.

Does my state also tax Social Security?

Probably not. Only eight states tax Social Security in 2026: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont. West Virginia finished phasing its tax out for 2026. Whether your state taxes your federal pension is a different question, and 17 states exempt that entirely.

Both lists are in our best states to retire guide.

How can I estimate how much of my own Social Security will be taxed?

Add your pension, any Traditional TSP withdrawals you plan to take, and half of your annual Social Security benefit. Compare the total to the thresholds for your filing status, then run the IRS Publication 915 worksheet or match your numbers to the table in this post. For a year-by-year projection built on your own pension and TSP balance, run the FERS Retirement Calculator and the TSP Roth Conversion Calculator together.

How Social Security's 85% Tax Formula Actually Works

People repeat the 85% number as if 85% of everyone's benefit were taxed. It is a ceiling, reached through a two-step phase-in on IRS Publication 915, Worksheet 1. Here is the single-filer walkthrough for a $30,000 FERS pension and $24,000 of Social Security, so you can check your own numbers against it.

  1. Half of the Social Security benefit: $12,000.
  2. Other income counted in AGI: $30,000 (the pension).
  3. Provisional income: $42,000.
  4. Subtract the $25,000 base: $17,000 over.
  5. The first tier only covers the $9,000 between $25,000 and $34,000. Half of that: $4,500.
  6. The remaining $8,000 above $34,000 is taxed at the 85% tier: $6,800.
  7. Add the two tiers: $11,300 of taxable Social Security, or 47% of the benefit.

Push "other income" to $40,706 and the same worksheet lands on $20,400, which is 85% of $24,000. Every dollar above that changes nothing, because the ceiling is already hit. For a career FERS retiree with an ordinary pension, the question of how much Social Security is taxed usually has one answer, 85%, before any TSP withdrawal enters the picture.

The thresholds themselves explain the rest. Congress set $25,000 and $32,000 in 1983 and added the $34,000 and $44,000 tier in 1993. Neither has been indexed since. A pension that would have been comfortably below those lines in the 1980s clears them easily in 2026.

16 Retiree Scenarios, Computed

We ran Worksheet 1 for two households across four pension levels, with and without a $20,000 Traditional TSP withdrawal. No state tax is modeled, no other income is assumed, and the pension is treated as fully taxable for round numbers. In practice about 95% of a FERS annuity is taxable under the Simplified Method, which changes the totals by a few hundred dollars and never changes the tier.

Single filer, $24,000 of Social Security (85% ceiling = $20,400)

FERS Pension Traditional TSP Withdrawal Provisional Income Taxable Social Security Share Taxed
$30,000 $0 $42,000 $11,300 47%
$30,000 $20,000 $62,000 $20,400 85%
$45,000 $0 $57,000 $20,400 85%
$45,000 $20,000 $77,000 $20,400 85%
$60,000 $0 $72,000 $20,400 85%
$60,000 $20,000 $92,000 $20,400 85%
$80,000 $0 $92,000 $20,400 85%
$80,000 $20,000 $112,000 $20,400 85%

The $30,000-pension retiree is the only single filer in this table below the ceiling, and one $20,000 withdrawal takes them to it. Every pension at $45,000 and above is maxed out before the TSP is touched.

Married filing jointly, $42,000 of combined Social Security (85% ceiling = $35,700)

FERS Pension Traditional TSP Withdrawal Provisional Income Taxable Social Security Share Taxed
$30,000 $0 $51,000 $11,950 28%
$30,000 $20,000 $71,000 $28,950 69%
$45,000 $0 $66,000 $24,700 59%
$45,000 $20,000 $86,000 $35,700 85%
$60,000 $0 $81,000 $35,700 85%
$60,000 $20,000 $101,000 $35,700 85%
$80,000 $0 $101,000 $35,700 85%
$80,000 $20,000 $121,000 $35,700 85%

Couples get more room than the "married is double single" intuition suggests. The $45,000-pension couple sits at 59% with no withdrawal, while the single retiree at the same pension is already capped. But that same couple is the one most likely to believe it has room to spare, and a $20,000 Traditional withdrawal adds $11,000 of newly taxable Social Security, the largest single jump in either table.

The Withdrawal Choice That Moves the Number

Look down the TSP column in both tables. Once you retire, the pension is fixed, and once you claim, so is the Social Security benefit. The one input you still control every year is which account the withdrawal comes from.

A Traditional TSP withdrawal is reported on a 1099-R and lands in adjusted gross income. A qualified Roth TSP or Roth IRA withdrawal does not appear in AGI at all, so the provisional income formula never sees it. A couple with a $45,000 pension who takes $20,000 from Roth instead of Traditional stays at 59% taxed instead of 85%, and keeps $11,000 of Social Security out of taxable income that year.

That is the argument for building a Roth balance before you claim, either through Roth TSP contributions while working or through conversions in the low-income gap years between retirement and Social Security. Our Traditional TSP tax-stacking guide walks through why the Traditional-only retiree pays this tax three times over, and the TSP Roth Conversion Calculator prices a conversion against your bracket.

Required minimum distributions complicate the picture later. Once RMDs start, the Traditional withdrawal is no longer optional, and the provisional income it creates is not either.

Withholding: Four Choices and a First-Year Surprise

Social Security does not withhold federal tax unless you ask. The request is Form W-4V, and it offers exactly four rates: 7%, 10%, 12%, or 22%. You cannot pick 15%, and you cannot pick a dollar amount.

OPM withholds from your annuity based on the W-4P you filed at retirement, and the TSP withholds 20% on most lump-sum payments. Neither of them knows about the Social Security check. In a first full retirement year with all three income streams running, the gap between what was withheld and what is owed is a common April surprise. Match the W-4V rate to the tier you land in on the tables above, and revisit it in any year you plan a large Traditional withdrawal.

What Your State Does on Top

Only eight states tax Social Security benefits in 2026: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont. Several of those exempt lower-income retirees. West Virginia completed its three-year phase-out and no longer taxes benefits for 2026.

Your federal pension is a separate line on the state return. Seventeen states exempt it entirely: the nine with no income tax (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming) plus Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa for retirees 55 and up, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, and, from 2026, Michigan for most retirees through a deduction of roughly $66,000 single and $132,000 joint. A retiree can live in a state that taxes neither, one, or both, which is why the two questions belong side by side when you compare states.

Calculate Your Retirement Income

Use our free FERS Retirement Calculator to project your annuity, supplement, and Social Security year by year, then add your planned TSP withdrawals to see which tier you land in. Run your numbers →

Sources