I received $6974 from Social Security in March of 2019. Then when I received my tax form they had taken out almost $5000 in box 4. I haven't worked in years, so I don't understand why this happened. I didn't receive a letter for the amount I received in March, nor did I receive a letter about the money taken out. I called the local office and he had absolutely no idea about what was going on. I researched my SS online and there is no information about either issue. What's going on?

Hi,

Sorry, but I have no idea. If you received a single Social Security payment of $6974 it would almost certainly represent some type of back pay, but I'd have no way of knowing why you'd be due back pay from Social Security. You should have received a notice in the mail explaining the payment, but if you didn't receive a notice then only someone at Social Security with access to your records would be able to give you an explanation.

Block 4 of form 1099R shows the amount of federal income tax withheld, and Social Security normally only withholds income taxes from a person's benefits if requested to do so by the person receiving benefits. Therefore, I assume at some point you signed a form W-4 V asking Social Security to withhold taxes from your benefits. If you no longer want taxes withheld from your benefits you'll need to submit a new W-4 V to Social Security (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxwithold.html).

Best, Jerry