The amount of IRA contribution allowed when also receiving social security may need to be calculated on a special worksheet.

Per IRS Publication 915 Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits, page 6:

Which worksheet to use. A worksheet you can use to figure your taxable benefits is in the Instructions for Forms 1040 and 1040-SR. You can use either that worksheet or Worksheet 1 in this publication, unless any of the following situations applies to you.

1. You contributed to a traditional individual retirement arrangement (IRA) and you or your spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work. In this situation, you must use the special worksheets in Appendix B of Pub. 590-A to figure both your IRA deduction and your taxable benefits.
2. Situation 1 doesn’t apply and you take an exclusion for interest from qualified U.S. savings bonds (Form 8815), for adoption benefits (Form 8839), for foreign earned income or housing (Form 2555), or for income earned in American Samoa (Form 4563) or Puerto Rico by bona fide residents. In this situation, you must use Worksheet 1 in this publication to figure your taxable benefits.
3. You received a lump-sum payment for an earlier year. In this situation, also complete Worksheet 2 or 3 and Worksheet 4 in this publication. See Lump-Sum Election, later.

TaxAct will automatically complete the worksheet(s) if your entries indicate you have:

• social security income, and
• taxable income, and
• contributions to an IRA, and
• a spouse covered by a retirement plan at work.

If the worksheet(s) do not populate in your return, you don't need to complete the worksheet(s). If you think the worksheet(s) should have been created but weren’t, review your entries to make sure all are accurate.

Go to IRS Publication 590-A Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) for more information and to find the worksheets in Appendix B.

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the webpage or document at the time it is accessed.