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Dedecting per diem expenses

Jul
08
2011
By makipaa

My wife is a nurse on assignment outside her tax home. She is 64 years old and earns about $2,000 over the $14,160 annual earnings limit. However she is allowed to deduct a per diem living expense amount for the duration of the assignment for federal Income tax purposes. Can she deduct the per diem for SS calculation?

SS web pages contain no info on this.

Forums: 
Retirement Benefits - Social Security

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Submitted by Site Admin on Fri, 07/08/2011 - 21:56

You may want to contact Social Security directly to verfiy, but I see no "deductions" along the lines of the Income Tax code relative to earnings for Social Security purposes.

Wages for Social Security purposes are gross wages - wages before any payroll deductions for income tax, Social Security tax, dues, insurance, or other deductions by the employer. We use gross wages as the basis for Social Security credit and for determining whether benefits must be withheld because of earnings.

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/277

In other words, it's the gross wages irrespective of any income-tax related deductions.

The key is probably what appears on the W-2 under gross wages. Sometimes expenses are reimbursed directly and never show up as W-2 gross "wages".

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