Editorial and Fact-Check Policy

This page explains how SSA Easy Guide is researched, written and corrected.

Sources

We work from the Social Security Administration's own material: the benefit formulas, the full retirement age table, and published figures. We do not build guidance on other blogs.

State tax treatment is where that matters most. Only 8 states still tax Social Security benefits in 2026. A decade ago it was more than twice that, and states have dropped the tax one at a time ever since. Much of what is published online still names states that stopped years ago, so we checked all 50 against current state guidance rather than against other articles.

Our calculator

The claiming calculator implements SSA's exact rules: a reduction of 5/9 of one percent per month for the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 beyond, and delayed credits of 2/3 of one percent per month to age 70. It reproduces SSA's published percentages. It states what it excludes, including cost of living adjustments, the earnings test, taxes and Medicare premiums, next to the result rather than in the small print.

What we will not do

We do not invent authors. Articles are bylined to the Easy Guides Editorial Team because that is who writes them: no stock photographs of advisors who do not exist, no invented credentials.

We do not present a break-even age as though it settles the question. It is the number every claiming article leads with, and it answers a question nobody can answer, because it depends on how long you live. Claiming at 62 against 70 is a 30% permanent reduction versus a 24% permanent increase, and which is better is only knowable afterwards. We show the break-even age and we say what it is worth.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, tell us at hello@theeasyguides.com. We verify against the primary source and correct confirmed errors promptly.

Limits

We are not the Social Security Administration and nothing here is financial or legal advice.

The calculator works from the benefit figure you type in. It does not know your earnings record, so it cannot tell you what that figure should be; only SSA can, from your own statement. It excludes cost of living adjustments, the earnings test, taxes and Medicare premiums, and it says so next to the result. Its arithmetic is covered by 28 assertions running against the same code this site sends to your browser, which makes the numbers reliable and still leaves the decision dependent on your health, savings, spouse and work plans.