I turn 60 in July and my husband passed away in 2010. I want to continue to work and get the death benefit. I understand they will take a percentage of the benefit while im working but i need to know if i will have to pay taxes on the amount received, over and above what they keep because of me working ?

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Whether or not you'd have to pay income taxes on any of the Social Security benefits you receive depends on your total annual income. For more information, refer to the following Social Security website: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxes.html.

Before filing, you should strongly consider using our software to determine your best overall strategy for claiming your benefits. Your best strategy is likely one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits at age 60 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your full retirement age (FRA). However, if your husband received reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to his death, then it would likely be more advantageous to claim widow's benefits at some point prior to your FRA.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher record when it reaches it's highest potential rate. Our maximization software could sort all of this out for you and help you determine your optimal strategy.

Best, Jerry