Senior Deduction Phase-Out: Income Limit Calculator and Table

Reading the phase-out

The calculator opens with a married couple filing jointly, both 65 or older, with $180,000 of MAGI. They are $30,000 over the joint threshold. Six percent of that is $1,800, taken off each spouse’s $6,000: $4,200 each, $8,400 together, instead of $12,000.

Unlike the tips and overtime deductions, there are no $1,000 steps here. The reduction is a straight 6% of every dollar over the line, on Schedule 1-A lines 33–35, and it applies separately to each qualifying person on lines 36a and 36b.

The table

The table below shows the deduction at each MAGI for a single filer (or head of household, or qualifying surviving spouse) and for a joint return with one or two people 65 or older, worked out with the calculator’s own rule. Your own income is marked in the table under the calculator.

What raises MAGI in retirement

MAGI here starts from adjusted gross income, so everything in AGI counts: pensions, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals including required minimum distributions, the taxable part of Social Security, interest, dividends, capital gains and Roth conversions. Tax-exempt interest isn’t in AGI and isn’t added back for this deduction, unlike Medicare’s IRMAA, which adds it.

The calculator works from the MAGI you enter. To compare two plans, such as a larger or smaller withdrawal, enter each resulting MAGI in turn and watch the deduction and the estimated tax change; the phase-out table under the calculator marks where each one lands.

The amount, $6,000, and the thresholds are written into the law for 2025 through 2028 and aren’t adjusted for inflation, so this table holds for all four years.

Senior deduction by MAGI

Computed with the calculator’s rule: $6,000 per person 65 or older, minus 6% of MAGI over $75,000 (single) or $150,000 (joint) for each person (Schedule 1-A, Part V).