Is Social Security Disability Taxed in Pennsylvania?

In Pennsylvania, a person is able to apply for Social Security disability benefits if he is out of work for long periods of time or permanently Residents in Pennsylvania are part of the 5,603,669 beneficiaries receiving Socials Security benefits in the Philadelphia Region which also includes West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. The Internal Revenue Service taxes SSA disability payments received by Pennsylvania beneficiaries based on household income.

Every Pennsylvania resident who is a U.S. citizen is eligible to apply for SSA disability benefits. This is a federal program funded by Federal Income Contribution Act taxes. Because it is a federal program, individuals in each state has the same eligibility requirements to meet. There are more than 4,000 Social Security Administration employees and 140 field offices that service Pennsylvania residents in the Philadelphia Region.

Being accepted for disability coverage, applicants must have worked the required number of years according to the age; younger disabled workers do not have to work as many years as older applicants. They must have also paid into Social Security while working. The applicants’ disabilities must prevent them from working for more than a year; SSA doesn’t cover partial or short-term disabilities. They must not be able to do their regular jobs or adjust to any other type of employment as well.

Social Security disability benefits are determined by the lifetime earnings records of the applicants. The Social Security Administration calculates benefit amounts and mails yearly notifications to eligible Pennsylvania workers detailing how much they would get if they were to become disabled. As of 2011, SSA benefit checks averaged $1,063 per month. However, the beneficiary's family members are also eligible to receive disability benefits off of their earning records. The beneficiary's children, spouses and ex-spouses can receive benefit checks. Their payments are 50 percent of a beneficiary's disability benefits.

Beneficiaries in Pennsylvania will have their disability benefits taxed if their household incomes surpass the programs’ limits. The IRS taxes 50 percent of individual and married couple's SSA benefits at normal tax rates if their incomes exceed $25,000 and $34,000 respectively. Eighty-five percent of their disability benefits are subject to taxation if an individual's income top $34,000 and married couples earn over $44,000.