My wife and I sold our home of 32 years with an after tax profit of $400,000 - SS cited as the reason to lower our SS by 10% - I thought SS was biased on earned income - why would unearned income deplete SS ?
Dennis

Hi Dennis,

Income from the sale of a home would not affect your Social Security benefit rate, but it could affect the amount of your Medicare premiums (https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2020-medicare-parts-b-premiums-...). You don't mention your age or whether or not you're eligible for Medicare, but that would be my best guess for an explanation of why your payment amount was reduced.

If your Medicare premiums have increased due to a one year increase in your taxable income, your premium rate will likely revert to a lower amount starting next year.

The only other explanation I can think of is that you're having federal income taxes withheld from your benefits, but having taxes withheld from benefits is voluntary so you would have to have requested that yourself.

Best, Jerry