Menu

Connecticut Retirement Income Tax Calculator

Connecticut fully exempts Social Security and IRA income below $75,000 / $100,000 AGI, then phases relief out.

Checked against sources 1 official source linked How we verify

Connecticut resident retirement worksheet

Use the year income is received, not the filing year. Later years use a separately approved assessment until the next return rules are verified.

Full-year ordinary resident Connecticut return. Current prepared whole-dollar federal income, distinct qualified pension / IRA and benefit amounts, nonoverlapping modifications confirmed. Published 2026 exemption, addback, recapture and personal credit calculated. Special AMT, nonresident allocation and other credits require separate preparation.

Prepare actual resident filing status and ownership. A selector change does not split joint dollars or approve a deduction.

Federally included receipts after contribution basis and all other income; this is not gross retirement cash or federal taxable income.

Current conformity and other additions, prepared independently. Zero is a confirmed amount.

Exclude every retirement subtraction calculated here. Basis differences and protected railroad benefits require approval; no duplicate deduction.

Separate from withholding, estimated payments and refundable credits. Blank leaves after-credit tax unresolved.

The federally taxable benefit amount, not gross SSA benefits. Railroad benefits need separate approved modification.

Actual gross benefits on IRS Publication 505 Worksheet 2-2 line 1. Head-of-household uses 100000 benefit AGI test but 75000 pension phaseout.

At or above the Connecticut benefit AGI threshold, prepare IRS Publication 505 Worksheet 2-2 line 10 (provisional income minus the federal base). Connecticut multiplies the lesser of line 1 gross benefits and line 10 by 25%. Blank remains unknown when this calculation is needed; no gross-benefit shortcut. Below the threshold this field is unused.

Approved defined-benefit /401(k)/403(b)/457(b) amount. Exclude military, teachers and separately subtracted receipts; no plan eligibility inferred from cash.

2026 law applies 100% eligible amount before the same pension AGI phaseout.2025’s 75% is not carried into 2026. Roth income not included federally is omitted.

CT · 2026 scoped worksheet

Waiting on a figure

CT displayed annual tax estimate —
CT modeled taxable income
—
Calculated retirement subtractions
—
Included benefits subtracted
—
Qualified pension / IRA subtraction
—
Separate senior / disability subtraction
—
Modeled retirement / exemption credits
—
Estimate after other approved credits
—
2026 Connecticut personal exemption
—
2% phase-out addback
—
Tax recapture
—
Rounded personal tax credit
—

Calculation scopeFull-year ordinary resident Connecticut return. Current prepared whole-dollar federal income, distinct qualified pension / IRA and benefit amounts, nonoverlapping modifications confirmed. Published 2026 exemption, addback, recapture and personal credit calculated. Special AMT, nonresident allocation and other credits require separate preparation.

Illustrative defaults. Enter approved taxable amounts and confirm eligibility. The result covers the displayed worksheet conditions; a complete return may require other income, adjustments, deductions or credits.

Published 2026 CT-1040 ES Tables A–E with mandatory nearest-whole-dollar line rounding;2026 IRA 100% before federal-AGI phaseout; separate Social Security income test. Other credits, AMT and mixed residency separate. The source is under a 2025 folder but its title and income period explicitly cover 2026. Independently reviewed October 2, 2026.

Reviewed October 2, 2026. Connecticut 2026: IRA relief and Social Security use separate tests

What Connecticut taxes in retirement

Partly taxed: limits by age, plan, owner or income apply. Military retirement is covered in the guide. How these labels work.

Connecticut 2026: IRA relief and Social Security use separate tests

Calculate Connecticut’s 2026 pension and IRA subtractions, separate Social Security test, graduated tax and approved return adjustments.

Connecticut’s eligible traditional IRA percentage reaches 100% for 2026. That does not mean every IRA distribution disappears from the Connecticut return: the federal-AGI phaseout applies to eligible pension, annuity and IRA amounts. Single, separate and head-of-household filers receive full eligible relief below $75,000; joint filers use $100,000. The succeeding ranges reduce the eligible share to 85%, 70%, 55%, 40%, 25%, 10%, 5%, 2.5% and finally zero. Crossing a boundary requires recomputing the subtraction.

Social Security uses a different filing grouping. Included benefits are fully subtracted below federal AGI $75,000 for single/separate returns and $100,000 for joint/head-of-household returns. At or above that threshold, the subtraction keeps Connecticut-taxable benefits from exceeding 25% of gross benefits. Enter gross and federally included amounts separately. In particular, a head-of-household retiree at $80,000 AGI can have full Social Security relief while only 55% of an eligible pension/IRA amount is subtracted.

For the displayed joint illustration, federal AGI $80,000 includes $15,000 taxable benefits, $30,000 eligible pension and $10,000 IRA income. The calculated subtractions total $55,000, leaving Connecticut AGI $25,000. Published Table A allows a $24,000 personal exemption at that state income, so taxable income is $1,000. Table B gives $20 initial tax, and Table E gives a 75% personal credit, $15. The modeled ordinary tax is $5 before other independently approved credits or special taxes.

The actual 2026 CT-1040 ES publication supplies the exemption, 2% phase-out addback, tax recapture and personal-credit tables. This worksheet calculates them from Connecticut AGI and the actual filing category. DRS requires nearest-whole-dollar income and tax line totals, including the separately rounded personal-credit amount. A single retiree at Connecticut AGI $44,000 has $1,000 exemption, initial tax $1,685 and 10% credit $168.50 rounded to $169, leaving $1,516. It does not retain a fictitious half dollar of tax. Military, teachers’ income and other modifications are separately prepared without overlapping ordinary pension amounts.

Use the agency’s actual-year pension instructions and the current statute together. A publication released in 2026 can still describe 2025 IRA relief at 75%; its publication date does not change its tax-year scope. Mixed residence, negative income, special-rate income and unresolved plan qualification require the complete return. Keep ownership and contribution basis with each distribution when comparing Connecticut with another destination. The published model supports single, joint, separate and head-of-household ordinary cases. A qualifying-surviving-spouse pension/IRA classification not resolved by the pension worksheet needs agency confirmation rather than a guessed phaseout category.

Prepare these Connecticut records

Official Connecticut source. Actual 2026 CT-1040 ES, Rev 01/26, despite 2025 folder;2026 CT-W 4 P and mandatory income-return rounding notice.

Calculate the federal portion separately

Use the federal retirement-tax worksheet to prepare federally included benefits and ordinary income. Its federal deduction and rates do not replace the Connecticut rules above.

Compare Connecticut with nearby states

New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island border Connecticut. Run each one’s worksheet with the same household figures before deciding where a move would leave you.

Retirement tax calculators for all 50 states and DCInputs and calculation scopeSources and tax yearsReport a correction

Updated / verified · Retirement Income Tax Calculator Editorial Team