I confess that something as simple as PRC Gold's figuring of taxable social security income has been perplexing me. My and my spouse's benefits are now fixed + COLA (ie we're both claiming full benefits @70), but when I calculate the taxable portion of our benefits using the instructions and worksheets at IRS, my numbers always come out very different from PRC's. It would help me to know exactly which inputs influence PRC's calculation.
In fact, if it were possible to include a glossary or appendix in the manual that provides a list of inputs to various outputs, many numbers in the Tabular Projections would make more sense and be traceable to their sources. I realize that the complexity of the tool might make this prohibitive, but at some point or other in its development, somebody did actually define those relationships.
Have you cross-checked by using another calculator? Some are rudimentary, so be careful there. Here's one:
https://www.dinkytown.net/java/social-security-taxable-benefits.html
There are a few more as well.
@hines202 Yes, and I've never gotten anywhere near PRC's number. It would simply help if the manual told us what inputs are used for its calculation of the taxable portion of SS. I don't know what numbers are contributing to its result.
