Connecticut Retirement Income Tax: A Guide for Seniors (2026)

Whether you owe Connecticut tax on your Social Security, pension, or IRA comes down to one number: your federal adjusted gross income.1 Stay under the limit for your filing status, $75,000 for single filers or $100,000 for joint filers, and most of your retirement income is exempt. Go over, and the breaks start to phase out. The Connecticut retirement income tax rewards moderate-income retirees and gradually pulls the exemptions away as income climbs.

This guide walks through how each kind of retirement income is treated, the income limits that control it, and the IRA phase-in that finishes in 2026.

In This Guide

• Connecticut Retirement Income Tax at a Glance
• Connecticut Retirement Income Tax: How It Works
• Social Security
• Pensions and Annuities
• IRA, 401(k), and Other Retirement Accounts
• Teacher, Railroad, and Military Retirement
• Why the AGI Limit Matters So Much
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Next Steps

Connecticut Retirement Income Tax at a Glance

Connecticut's approach is built around income limits. Below the thresholds, Social Security, pension, annuity, and traditional IRA income is fully exempt for the 2026 tax year.1 At or above them, the exemptions shrink. The table below summarizes how each income type is treated.

Read that middle column carefully, because the two threshold sets are not the same. For Social Security, the $75,000 line covers single and married-filing-separately filers and the $100,000 line covers joint filers, heads of household, and qualifying widow(er)s.1 For the pension, annuity, and IRA deductions, head of household moves to the $75,000 line instead, grouped with single and married filing separately, and only joint filers sit at $100,000.1 So a head-of-household filer at $85,000 of federal AGI is fully exempt on Social Security and only partially deductible on pension and annuity income.1 Connecticut's income tax itself is graduated: for taxable years commencing on or after January 1, 2024 the bottom two rates are 2 percent and 4.5 percent, rising to a top rate of 6.99 percent on Connecticut taxable income over $500,000 for a single filer.1 The exemptions above determine how much of your retirement income reaches those brackets in the first place.

Connecticut Retirement Income Tax: How It Works

The system turns on federal adjusted gross income (AGI) and two threshold numbers, $75,000 and $100,000. What changes between the deductions is which filing statuses sit at which number. For Social Security, $75,000 covers single filers and anyone married filing separately, while $100,000 covers married couples filing jointly, heads of household, and qualifying widow(er)s.1 For the pension and annuity deduction, and for the IRA deduction that follows it, $75,000 covers single, married-filing-separately, and head-of-household filers, and $100,000 covers joint filers alone.1 The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services publishes the Social Security limits; the pension grouping is set by statute.

These are strict cutoffs, and the exact dollar matters. The Social Security exemption applies to federal AGI less than $75,000 or $100,000, so a single filer at exactly $75,000 is on the taxable side of the line, not the exempt side.1 The pension and annuity schedule is written the same exclusive way, running from "Less than $75,000" at a 100 percent deduction down to "$100,000 and over" at zero.1

Here is the basic logic. Connecticut starts with your federal AGI. If you are under the limit for your filing status, your Social Security and pension income come out of your Connecticut taxable income, and your IRA income is exempt up to the year's phase-in percentage. If you reach or pass the limit, the picture changes by income type: Social Security caps its taxable portion at 25 percent, while the pension and annuity exemption phases down to zero across a defined income band.1

One detail worth flagging early: the AGI figure Connecticut uses is your full federal AGI, which can already include a taxable slice of your Social Security. So the number that decides your exemption is not just your pension and withdrawals; it is everything the IRS counts. That is why a large one-time IRA withdrawal can push you over the line and shrink your exemptions for that year.

Social Security

Connecticut fully exempts Social Security benefits for single filers and separate filers with federal AGI below $75,000, and for joint filers, heads of household, and qualifying widow(er)s below $100,000.1 If you are under those numbers, none of your Social Security is taxed by the state, even if a portion is taxable on your federal return.

At or above the limits, Connecticut still protects most of the benefit. The most that becomes taxable at the state level is 25 percent of your Social Security.1 In other words, even high-income retirees shield at least three-quarters of their benefits from Connecticut tax. There is no point at which Connecticut taxes 100 percent of Social Security.

Pensions and Annuities

Qualifying pension and annuity income is 100 percent exempt for taxpayers under $75,000 of federal AGI if they file as single, married filing separately, or head of household, and under $100,000 if they file jointly.1 Connecticut counts 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b) plan income in that category.1 Note the grouping: head of household is at $100,000 for Social Security but at $75,000 here, which is the single most common way a Connecticut retiree misreads this rule.1

At or above the limits, the pension exemption phases out rather than disappearing all at once. For single, married-filing-separately, and head-of-household filers the phase-out runs from $75,000 to $100,000 of AGI; for joint filers it runs from $100,000 to $150,000.1 No taxpayer qualifies for any of the deduction at a federal AGI of $100,000 or more (single, separate, or head of household) or $150,000 or more (joint).1 Inside that band, the share of your pension that stays exempt steps down as your income rises, reaching zero at the top of the range. A single filer near the midpoint of that band keeps part of the exemption; the same filer at $100,000 or above keeps none of it.1

IRA, 401(k), and Other Retirement Accounts

This is the part of the Connecticut retirement income tax that has been changing, so the year matters.

Traditional IRA distributions (everything except Roth IRAs) reached full exemption in 2026 for taxpayers under the income limits, at the end of a phase-in written into Connecticut law. The exempt percentage climbed each year: 50 percent for the 2024 tax year, 75 percent for the 2025 tax year, and 100 percent for the 2026 tax year and each year thereafter.1 So a retiree filing for the 2026 tax year who is under the AGI limit pays no Connecticut tax on traditional IRA withdrawals. Roth IRA distributions are generally already tax-free and are not part of this phase-in.

401(k), 403(b), and 457 plan income is treated like pension income, not like IRA income.1 That means it is fully exempt under the pension AGI limits (below $75,000 for single, married-filing-separately, and head-of-household filers, and below $100,000 for joint filers), and it follows the pension phase-out at or above them without waiting for the IRA schedule.1 If you are rolling a 401(k) into an IRA, be aware the two are taxed under different rules in Connecticut even though they feel interchangeable.

For a broader look at how these accounts fit into paying for care, retirement accounts for care covers the withdrawal and tax tradeoffs in more depth.

Teacher, Railroad, and Military Retirement

Connecticut's deductions do not end with Social Security, pensions, annuities, and IRAs. The Office of Legislative Research's list of the state's retirement-income deductions also includes three further categories, and OLR states these as flat deductions rather than running them through the AGI test above.1

Connecticut teachers' retirement system: 50 percent. OLR states a deduction of 50 percent of income received from the state teachers' retirement system.1 It reaches Connecticut TRS income only, not any other state's or any local teachers' retirement system. A taxpayer eligible for both this deduction and the general pension and annuity exemption may take whichever is more favorable.1

Railroad retirement: 100 percent. OLR states a 100 percent deduction for tier I and tier II railroad retirement benefits, and notes that these benefits are in any case generally exempt from state and local income tax under the federal Railroad Retirement Act of 1974.1

Military retirement pay: 100 percent. OLR states a 100 percent deduction for military retirement pay, and this one carries a limb that is easy to miss. It reaches not only a retired member of the U.S. armed forces or National Guard, but also a beneficiary receiving survivor benefits under an option or election made by a deceased retired military member.1 If you are a surviving spouse drawing a military survivor annuity, OLR states that income as fully deducted on its own terms, so do not assume it falls back into the AGI-gated pension and annuity deduction once your income passes $75,000.

Why the AGI Limit Matters So Much

Because the Social Security, pension, annuity, and IRA exemptions all key off your federal AGI, your income in a given year can swing your tax bill more than the headline rates do. A retiree comfortably under $75,000 single may owe almost nothing to Connecticut on retirement income.1 The same retiree who takes a large IRA withdrawal, sells an asset, or converts to a Roth in one year can cross the line and watch the Social Security and pension exemptions tighten at once.

That makes timing a real lever. Spreading withdrawals across years, or planning a Roth conversion before benefits start, can keep AGI under the threshold and preserve the exemptions. This is general information, not personalized tax advice, and the interaction between federal AGI and these state exemptions is exactly the kind of thing worth running past a tax professional before a big move. If retirement savings are part of how you will pay for care, building a senior care funding plan is a useful next read.

Next Steps

If you are retired in Connecticut, start by finding your federal AGI and comparing it to the limit for your filing status, $75,000 or $100,000.1 That one comparison tells you most of what you need to know.

• Pull your federal AGI from last year's return and check it against your filing-status limit.
• Sort your income by type: Social Security, pension or annuity, 401(k), and traditional IRA each follow their own rule.
• Note the year for IRA income: the exemption reached 100 percent for the 2026 tax year.
• Plan large withdrawals with the AGI thresholds in mind, ideally before you take them.

If you are weighing how to fund care from retirement savings, how to pay for senior care lays out the main options.

Learn More

Find personalized help making sense of the Connecticut retirement income tax at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.