5 Ways to Avoid Taxes on Your Social Security Benefits

How are taxes on Social Security benefits calculated? Are there any strategies that would help me avoid paying taxes on my benefits? Whether your Social Security benefits are taxed depends on your "provisional income." Your provisional income is your adjusted gross income, not counting Social Security benefits, plus nontaxable interest and half of your Social Security benefits. If it's below $25,000 and you file taxes as single or head of household, or less than $32,000 if you file a joint return, you won't owe taxes on your benefits. If your provisional income is between $25,000 and $34,000 if you're single, or between $32,000 and $44,000 if you file jointly, up to 50% of your benefits may be

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Costco's credit card nightmare just got even worse

Costco’s marriage to Visa has been rocky pretty much from the start — and this weekend shoppers faced a new problem, despite assurances that issues in the relationship were being ironed out. On Friday evening, a number of Costco members received emails from Citi, the issuer of the new Visa-Costco credit card, alerting them that their credit card accounts had been closed. Citi told Business Insider that Friday’s emails were intended to be sent to Costco shoppers whose memberships had lapsed to alert them they could no longer use their Costco Anywhere Visa cards.