If your proposed divorce settlement agreement includes alimony payments, in most cases, you will have to declare those payments as taxable income. (Although not commonly done, alimony can be structured as non-taxable income to the recipient and a non-deductible expense to the payor).

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If you're already collecting benefits and have investment income that you don't need and that pushes your benefit into taxable territory consider "converting your countable income into non-countable income, " says Andy Landis, founder of Thinking Retirement, a retirement-education website.

WSJ: Lower Your Taxes on Social Security Benefits