• About 40% of people who receive Social Security benefits pay taxes on that income.
• While that comes as a surprise to many, there are ways to bring down the rate at which you are taxed.
• Here’s how to know whether 50% or 85% of your benefits are taxed, and how you can keep more of that money in your pocket.

WATCH NOWVIDEO01:57How to pay less in taxes on your Social Security benefits

It goes without saying that death and taxes are two of life’s certainties.

But what many people don’t know is that their Social Security retirement benefits might be taxed.

And that means that they haven’t been using strategies proactively to reduce those levies and extend their income over their retirement years.

William Meyer, founder of Social Security Solutions, a provider of benefits-claiming software, estimates that, on average, you can find up to seven years’ worth of more money by creating tax-efficient withdrawal strategies that coordinate Social Security benefits.

And those savings can be as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Meyer.

“It adds up to a lot of money for most people,” Meyer said. “It doesn’t matter if you have a lot of money or a little.

“That savings can be substantial.”

How Social Security benefits are taxed

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Approximately 40%of people who receive Social Security benefits pay federal income taxes on that income, according to the Social Security Administration.

If your income is low enough, none of your Social Security income may be taxed. But there are two additional tax tiers, which means that either 50% or 85% of your benefits could be subject to federal tax.

In order to know where you fall, you need to know your “provisional,” or combined, income.

To calculate that, add your adjusted gross income plus non-taxable interest plus half of your Social Security benefits. Those values can be found on your 1040 tax form.

If you file as an individual, you are subject to taxes on up to 50% of your Social Security benefits if your combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000. But if you’re over $34,000 in combined income, up to 85% of your benefits are subject to income taxes.