The 2016 Edition of Social Security Benefits Including Medicare provides a concise but helpful explanation of the complex rules governing the Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability benefits programs.
This booklet pays particular attention to retirement benefits and Parts A, B, C and D of the Medicare program. It details eligibility requirements, explains the calculation of monthly benefits, and discusses the effect of early retirement and delayed retirement on benefits. It reflects benefit amounts, the taxable earnings base and other variables set forth by the Social Security Administration for the upcoming year, which will enable retirees to compute the amount of their benefits.
In addition, Social Security Benefits Including Medicare provides retirees with an understanding of the tax treatment of their benefits, factors that can reduce benefits, and the impact of events, such as marriage and divorce, on benefits. Finally, the discussion contains numerous examples, all of which have been updated to reflect 2015 figures and rules, including the increase in the full retirement age and additional Medicare taxes that may be imposed on high earners.
The 2016 Edition has been updated to include:
- Analysis of the restrictions imposed by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 on file and suspend and restricted application retirement planning strategies
- Detailed discussion of the treatment of same-sex spouses, including the impact of a Supreme Court decision in 2015 recognizing a right to same-sex marriage under the Constitution, which effectively negated the power of the Social Security Administration to apply the domicile rule to deny benefits to same-sex couples
- Updated examples and charts to reflect all 2016 cost of living adjustments including an increase in the Medicare Part B premium
- Expanded discussion of the additional 0.9% Medicare tax and the 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income
- Expanded discussion of the reduction of benefits at early retirement and the credit for delayed retirement
- Expanded discussion of the Windfall Elimination provision
- And more
