My mother received her Jan 2016 Social Security benefit on 12/31/2015. Is this taxable in 2015 or 2016?

I received my SSA-1099 and the December 31st payment was NOT included in the total. I think SS knows that receiving 13 payments in a year would confuse a lot of people so they fudged it a little into 2016.

You got a lot of wrong answers.

2015

It will count for 2015. Whether it is taxed or not depends on her other income. All payments made in 2015 will appear on her form SSA-1099 which she should have received by now.

The check was for Jan 2016 and should be treated as such for tax purposes. For me SS sends out the checks to arrive on the third of the month OR the last working or business day if the third falls on a weekend or holiday. It is still for the next month.

Go by what your 1099 says. That's SS version of a W-2.

2015.

2015.

Social Security Disability Form : http://disabilityhelp.siopu.com/?ymB

she should get a 1099/1098 statement from Social Security this month that will tell her how much income to report on the 1040 - don;t try to figure it out without that form

she will receive a 1099 SSA showing what she received in 2015, let that be her source of information, not when she received the money