The Social Security Administration is preparing to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000 — and the final reduction in force number could be as high as 50%, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who are not authorized to speak publicly.

The Social Security Administration announced a “massive” reorganization and “significant” job cuts on Thursday that critics said could increase customer-service wait times and make it more difficult to detect fraud.

You can also request that the IRS withhold money for taxes from your Social Security checks up front. This would save you the trouble of having to do the math to figure out how much you might owe. If it withholds too much from your checks, you'd get the extra back as a refund when you file your tax return.