Josh Scandlen Podcast

Retiring in Massachusetts? You need to be doing some serious tax planning before you hang up your boots.   If you do, you can actually have a rather favorable, all-around, tax situation.  If you do nothing though, you're going to be in a world of hurt.  First off, Massachusetts does not tax any Social Security income.  That right there should give you a HUGE incentive to maximize your Social Security benefits.  MA also doesn't tax state and local government pensions. It appears they do tax Federal pensions though.   All other income is fully taxed as ordinary income. IRA distributions, 401k distributions, private pensions, annuities, etc.  And these are taxed at a flat rate over 5.1%. But it gets worse. They not only tax your income at 5.1% but they tax you on your Federal AGI. Not your taxable income!!!  If you don't know the difference you haven't been watching my videos... :) Let me give you a simple example how this works.  You have $100k in Fed AGI. &nbs