Are Social Security Disability Benefits Taxed?

Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) can be subject to tax, but most disability recipients don't end up paying taxes on them because they don't have much other income. About a third of Social Security disability recipients, however, do pay some taxes, usually because of their spouse's income or other household income. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are not taxed at all.

When Social Security Disability Benefits Are Taxable

Here's how federal taxation of SSDI benefits works. If you're married and you file jointly, and you and your spouse have more than $32,000 per year in what the IRS calls "combined income" (including half of your SSDI benefits), a portion of your SSDI benefits are taxable.

If you're single and you have more than $25,000 in combined income per year (including half of your SSDI benefits), a portion of your SSDI benefits will be subject to tax.

How big a portion of your SSDI benefits is subject to tax depends on how high your combined income is. Below is a chart with monthly income amounts that tells you whether your SSDI benefits are taxable and the maximum amount of SSDI that could be taxed.

If you have over $2,083 in combined income per month, calculating the actual amount of SSDI benefits that will be taxed can be quite complicated. You can make the calculations on the IRS Form 1040 tax return or you can use Social Security's tax calculator.

Taxation of Individuals' Benefits

Use the sum of half of your SSDI benefits plus your other income, either per month or for the whole year, to determine how much of your disability is taxable: 0% of it, up to 50% of it, or up to 85% of it.

Taxation of Married Couples' Benefits

Compare the sum of half of your SSDI benefits plus your other income to the figures in the table below to determine how much of your disability benefits are taxable.

Keep in mind that, if your disability benefits are subject to taxation, they'll be taxed at your personal income tax rate. In other words, your tax rate would not be 50% or 85%; your tax rate would probably be more like 10% to 12% of your benefits. The 50% and 85% percentages refer to the portion of your disability benefits that will be subject to taxation (the remaining portion, either 50% or 15%, isn't taxable).

Those with higher incomes (where 85% of your disability benefits would be taxed) might pay a tax of 22% or 24% on their benefits. The tax rate is the same used for your other personal income.

How Deductions Affect Your Tax Bill

Even if you discover some of your SSDI benefit is taxable, you're allowed to subtract deductions and apply tax credits to lower your tax bill. If your taxable income isn't too high, the tax due could be erased.

In 2025, the standard deduction for individuals under 65 is $15,750 per year (or $31,500 for married couples). The amount is slightly higher if you're receiving SSDI for blindness. (Learn more in this article on tax deductions for people with disabilities.)

Taxation of Social Security Disability Backpay

Large lump-sum payments of back payments of SSDI (payments of benefits for the months you were disabled but not yet approved for benefits) can bump your income up for the year in which you receive them, which can cause you to pay a bigger chunk of your backpay in taxes than you should have to.

To avoid losing part of your backpay this way, the IRS allows you to apply the SSDI benefits that Social Security owed from a prior year to prior tax returns, lowering your income for the year you actually receive the lump sum.

For example, if you were entitled to disability benefits for 22 months before you received your back pay, you could amend your tax returns for two prior years to claim some of the income in those years instead of the current year.

You should ask a lawyer or CPA for help if you want part of your back pay to count for a prior year; it's complicated. For more information, read our partner's article on how Social Security disability back pay is taxed.

State Taxation of Social Security Disability Benefits

Most states don't tax Social Security disability benefits. The following states, however, do tax disability benefits in some situations.

Some of these states use the same income brackets as the federal government (discussed above) to tax SSDI benefits, but most have their own systems. To find out how your state taxes SSDI benefits, see our sister website's article on state taxation of SSDI benefits.