A couple drawing on a $750,000 IRA can owe $0 federal tax.Find your row.
Most retirees never see the tax on their IRA laid out balance by balance. The free five-page guide shows the federal tax a retired couple actually pays on a normal 4% withdrawal, from $250,000 all the way to $2,000,000, then walks through why the zero rows are zero, the Social Security tax torpedo hiding between the rows, the planning window before RMDs, and the New York rules. Official 2026 IRS figures. From Jim Swiech, CPA.
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Quick answers
- How big can an IRA be before a retired couple owes federal tax?
- Larger than most people expect. In the example on this page a married couple both 65 or older, drawing 4% from a $750,000 IRA alongside their Social Security, owes $0 federal income tax for 2026. The reason is that only part of Social Security is taxable and three deductions shelter the withdrawal.
- Why is only part of Social Security taxed?
- The IRS runs your benefits through a worksheet that compares your other income plus half your Social Security against fixed thresholds: $32,000 and $44,000 for a married couple. Below the first line none of the benefit is taxable. Between the lines up to 50% is. Above the second line up to 85% is. At a 4% draw on $750,000 the couple in the example stays low enough that most of the benefit never hits the return.
- What changes the answer?
- Two things move your row more than anything else. First, the size of your own Social Security benefit, because a bigger benefit raises the combined-income figure. Second, age 73, when required minimum distributions replace the 4% you chose with a percentage the IRS chooses, and it rises every year. The guide on this page shows the tax at each IRA balance and what the RMD years do to it.
Updated . Reviewed by Jim Swiech, CPA.
This guide is educational and general in nature, it is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Figures are official 2026 federal amounts computed through the IRS Pub 915 worksheet and assume married filing jointly, both spouses 65+, $40,000 of Social Security, the standard deduction, and no other income; your numbers will differ, and state tax is separate. Go Beyond Tax is a brand of Swiech Consulting LLC.