How much, if any, of your social security benefits are taxable depends on your total income and marital status. Generally, if social security benefits were your only income, your benefits are not taxable.

Taxpayers who receive little or no income in addition to their Social Security Benefits would typically not need to file a tax return. However, you must file a 2007 tax return to receive an economic stimulus payment from the federal government.

If you received income from other sources, your benefits will not be taxed unless your modified adjusted gross income is more than the base amount for your filing status. Your taxable benefits and modified adjusted gross income are figured in a worksheet in the Form 1040A or Form 1040 Instruction booklet.

Before you go to the instruction book, do the following quick computation to determine whether some of your benefits may be taxable:

• First, add one–half of the total social security you received to all your other income, including any tax exempt interest and other exclusions from income.
• Then, compare this total to the base amount for your filing status. If the total is more than your base amount, some of your benefits may be taxable.

The 2007 base amounts are:

• $32,000 for married couples filing jointly
• $25,000 for single, head of household, qualifying widow/widower with a dependent child, or married individuals filing separately who did not live with their spouses at any time during the year
• $0 for married persons filing separately who lived together during the year

Taxpayers filing a 2007 return to receive an economic stimulus payment from the federal government must show at least $3,000 in qualifying income. Social Security benefits reported in box 5 of the 2007 Form 1099-SSA are considered as qualifying income for the stimulus payments.

If you do not have a Form 1099-SSA, you may estimate your annual Social Security benefit by taking your monthly benefit and multiplying it by the number of months during the year you received the benefits. You will then enter that number on Line 20a of Form 1040 or Line 14a of Form 1040A.