Question

Lucia is a 69-year-old single individual who receives a taxable pension of $10,000 per year and Social Security benefits of $7,000. Lucia is considering the possibility of selling stock she has owned for years and using the funds to purchase a summer home. She will realize a gain of $20,000 when she sells the stock, which has been paying $1,000 of dividends each year. Lucia says her brother recommended that she sell half the stock this year and half next year because selling all of the stock at once would affect the tax treatment of her Social Security benefits.
a) Computer her AGI under the assumption she sells all of the stock now after receiving $1,000 dividends from the stock.
b) Repeat the computation under the assumption she sells only half of the stock this year and also receives $1,000 dividends from the stock.

Answer 1

Answer: a. $34500

b. $21000

Explanation:

a. Compute her AGI under the assumption she sells all of the stock now after receiving $1,000 dividends from the stock.

This will be the addition of the taxable pension, half of social security benefits, stock gain, and the dividend received. This will be:

= $10000 + ($7000 × 50%) + $20000 + $1000

= $10000 + $3500 + $20000 + $1000.

= $34500

b. Repeat the computation under the assumption she sells only half of the stock this year and also receives $1,000 dividends from the stock.

= $10000 + $10000 + $1000

= $21000