South Carolina Retirement Income Tax Calculator

Retirement income tax calculation for South Carolina. Social Security is taxable at the federal level if combined income exceeds $25,000 (single) or $32,000 (married) — up to 85% may be taxed. This calculator excludes Social Security benefits from the STATE-taxable base entirely (many states exempt Social Security regardless of their general income tax treatment; this is a simplifying assumption, not a state-by-state verified exclusion list). Pension and 401(k)/IRA income is state-taxable only after South Carolina's retirement exclusion below. South Carolina Code §12-6-1170 gives each filer aged 65 or older a retirement-income deduction of up to $10,000 on qualified-plan and public-pension payouts plus an age deduction that tops the two up to $15,000 against any South Carolina income, $30,000 when both spouses are 65+ on a joint return. The calculator subtracts the lesser of that limit and the pension, IRA and interest you enter, then runs South Carolina's brackets on the remainder. The $3,000 deduction for filers under 65 and the full military-retirement deduction are not modeled. Because those deductions are left out, the South Carolina figure is an upper bound after the retirement exclusion; every filer is assumed to be 65 or older. Federal tax uses the final 2026 brackets and standard deduction from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, plus the section 63(f) additional standard deduction for age 65+ — $2,050 for a single filer and $1,650 per qualifying spouse (so $3,300 when both spouses are 65+ on a joint return). It does NOT apply the separate enhanced deduction for seniors under 26 U.S.C. §151(d)(5)(C) ($6,000 per qualified individual age 65+, claimed on Schedule 1-A Part V and phased out by 6% of MAGI over $75,000 single / $150,000 joint, available for tax years beginning before January 1, 2029). If you and your spouse are both 65+ and under that phase-out, the unmodelled deduction is worth up to $12,000 of additional federal deductions, so the federal tax shown here is deliberately CONSERVATIVE (too high) rather than optimistic — use the dedicated senior deduction calculator to model it.