Nvidia Just Added $150 Billion to Its Buyback Plan. Selling Shares Inside Your IRA Won’t Make More Social Security Taxable, but Taking the Money Out Could

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) unveiled a $150 billion boost to its share-repurchase authorization on Sept. 28. That brings the amount still authorized to $235 billion, the largest buyback boost on record. The authorization lets the company repurchase shares on its own schedule. It sends no cash to any shareholder.

A hypothetical retiree who collects Social Security and has held Nvidia for years inside a traditional IRA might consider trimming a position that has grown very large. She sells $100,000 of Nvidia inside the IRA and moves the money to cash.

The sale itself creates no tax bill and adds no income to her Social Security tax math. Taking that $100,000 out of the IRA is what can change both. If the traditional IRA holds only pretax money, withdrawals are generally taxed as ordinary income.

Selling $100,000 of Nvidia Inside the IRA Adds $0 to Taxable Income

A traditional IRA is tax-deferred, so trades inside it stay sheltered until money leaves the account. She can sell Nvidia, another stock, or a fund that has Nvidia without paying capital-gains tax on the trade. The proceeds stay in the IRA whether she reinvests them or holds cash.

That keeps the sale out of her “combined income,” which the IRS uses to decide how much of her Social Security gets taxed. Combined income is half of her benefits plus other income, including taxable IRA withdrawals and tax-exempt interest.

Same $100,000, Two Very Different Tax Results

Say her IRA holds only pretax money. She collects $30,000 a year in Social Security and has $10,000 of other income from interest and a small pension.

Single filers start paying tax on some benefits once combined income goes above $25,000. Above $34,000, up to 85% of benefits can be taxed. Joint filers hit the lines at $32,000 and $44,000. On Day 1 she reaches the first line. On Day 2 she is far above the second.

The withdrawal adds taxable income in two places: the $100,000 itself, plus $25,500 of Social Security that owed no tax before. Her income before deductions goes from $10,000 to $135,500. The 85% tells you how much of her benefit counts as income. Her regular tax bracket sets the rate she actually pays on it.

Before the withdrawal, her $10,000 falls under the $16,100 standard deduction for 2026, so she owes no federal income tax. After it, her taxable income is $119,400, taxed at 24% on the top portion. She pays tax on the entire withdrawal, including money she originally put in, not just on Nvidia’s gains.

Why Nvidia’s Buyback Puts Nothing in Her Account

Nvidia decides whether and when to buy back stock. In its most recent quarter, the company returned a record $26 billion to shareholders, with $20 billion through buybacks. None of that lands in her IRA. Her own withdrawal decision creates the tax.

Rebalance Now, Decide on the Withdrawal Later

If her goal is to shrink how much of her money rides on one stock, she can handle that entirely inside the IRA. She can hold cash, buy bonds, spread the money across index funds, or wait to see whether a withdrawal is even necessary. The same rule applies to Nvidia held through a fund in a pretax 401(k).

Five Questions to Answer Before Moving the Cash Out

1. Which account is it? A profitable sale in a regular brokerage account creates a capital gain right away. A sale inside a traditional IRA does not.
2. Is the IRA all pretax money? If she made nondeductible contributions, part of each withdrawal comes out tax-free, and old Form 8606 filings show how much.
3. Does she need all $100,000 this year? Taking only what she will spend keeps more of her combined income under the thresholds.
4. What income is already on the books? Pension payments, interest, dividends, wages and earlier IRA withdrawals already count toward combined income.
5. Would spreading it out help? Splitting a large withdrawal across two tax years may keep some income in a lower bracket, but it can also make more of her Social Security taxable in two separate years. Run both scenarios before deciding.

Treating the sale and withdrawal as one step is the hardest error to undo. Today she can shift her investments and leave the Social Security tax bill alone until money actually leaves the account. This Social Security threshold is one of several IRS rules that silently cost retirees real money, and we mapped out the rest in a free tax trap guide here. Run the figures yourself, or have a tax preparer run them, before the cash comes out.

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