Will nj still tax ss benefits for seniors in 2026?
Executive summary
Yes — New Jersey does not tax Social Security benefits, and the state’s official guidance and multiple tax guides continue to treat Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits as exempt for state income tax purposes for 2026; federal taxation of some benefits remains possible depending on provisional income [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. New Jersey’s statute and official guidance: Social Security is excluded
New Jersey’s Department of the Treasury and its published retirement guides state explicitly that Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits are not taxable under the New Jersey income tax, language repeated in the state’s retirement income materials and tax division guidance that taxpayers should follow when preparing New Jersey returns [1] [2].
2. Independent tax guides and consumer-facing resources confirm the exemption
Private and nonprofit tax guides used by retirees — including SmartAsset, Kiplinger, TurboTax, AARP and other retirement-resources summaries — uniformly report that New Jersey does not tax Social Security retirement benefits, reinforcing the state guidance that Social Security income faces no state income tax in New Jersey [5] [3] [6] [4].
3. What that exemption does — and does not — mean for retirees’ total tax bill
While Social Security benefits themselves are exempt from New Jersey state income tax, New Jersey continues to tax other retirement income streams such as many pensions, annuities, and certain IRA withdrawals unless excluded under pension-specific provisions; the state’s guidance requires residents to report and, where applicable, calculate differences between federal and state taxable amounts for those income types [2] [7].
4. Federal taxes and the mechanics that can still trigger taxation
A portion of Social Security benefits can remain federally taxable depending on “provisional income” — a calculation that combines adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest and half of Social Security benefits — and federal thresholds still determine whether up to 50% or 85% of benefits are included in federal taxable income, which in turn affects overall tax liability even when the state exempts those payments [8] [4].
5. 2026 COLA and related federal changes do not change New Jersey’s exemption
Social Security’s 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which raised monthly payments about 2.8% and adjusted Medicare and payroll-tax wage bases, affects benefit amounts but does not alter New Jersey’s long-standing policy exempting Social Security benefits from state income tax; coverage of the COLA and benefit increases by local outlets and AARP reiterates the federal adjustment without suggesting a change in state treatment [9] [10].
6. Caveats: laws can change, and reporting should rely on state sources at filing time
All reporting reviewed for this analysis — including state documents and multiple independent tax guides through 2025 and early 2026 — indicates New Jersey does not tax Social Security benefits [1] [2] [5] [3] [6], but any future legislative change would require a statute or official Department of Treasury update; this analysis does not find evidence of a 2026 law reversing the exemption, and it is limited to the sources provided rather than broader legislative tracking beyond those documents [1] [2].