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Category Archives for Earnings requirements

Wife’s Income Offset’s Husband’s SSI Benefit Claim

My husband had a spinal cord injury and is totally disabled but SS denied his claim because I(his wife) makes too much money.  I make $62,000 a year and we have a child in college. Does this denial make sense?  He made about $25,000 per year before the injury.  We have gone bankrupt and risk losing the house.
Ms. B

Jonathan Ginsberg responds:  Ms. B, if the denial was based on your household income, it would appear that your husband is not insured for Title II SSDI.  If you husband has an earnings record, then your income would not impact his right to collect benefits.  If he does not have enough earnings credits to qualify for SSDI, he would only be eligible for SSI.  SSI is a welfare program for indigent claimants who do not have enough credits to qualify for SSDI and an SSI claimant’s benefits would be subject to offset based on household income.

I discussed the earnings credit issue on a special page of this blog.   There are also several posts on this blog that discuss SSI and the offset rules.  If you will go to the search box and type in "ssi offset" you will see several posts that discuss SSI.

[tags] SSI offset, SSDI earnings record, making too much money for SSI [/tags]

 

 

Trial Work Period Earnings After Benefits Awarded – Will Benefit Amount Increase?

Dear Jonathan, I had a question posted several months ago concerning working full-time after being granted SSDI, and I had another related question. I’m currently working full-time as a computer programmer, which is the type of job I had previously. If I were to stop working again because of health reasons, and return to SSDI, would the social security taxes I’ve paid in the past year result in an increase to my SSDI benefits, or would the amount remain the same? Thank you.
–Morris

Jonathan Ginsberg responds: Morris, good to hear from your again, and thanks for the question. Here are my thoughts:

  1. if you are working again after being found disabled, you can collect your regular income for 9 months without affecting your disability pay. This is called the 9 month trial work period.

  2. after the nine months, you go into an extended trial work period for 36 months. During any month during that 36 month period where your earnings drop below the substantial gainful activity limit, you will recieve a disability check for that month.

  3. I believe that if you have added earnings to your record, the rolling period of eligibiltiy (date first insured and date last insured) will adjust as would your benefit amount. I am not aware of any provision in the law that prevents additional earnings from increasing your SSDI benefits, but I have not ever seen this question posed. If anyone reading this has a different opinion, or, Morris, if you discover the answer one way or the other, please let me know.

[tags] trial work period, earnings after disability award, extended trial work period, Social Security disability [/tags]

Social Security Earnings Credits for Military Veterans

I receive a number of inquiries about Social Security earnings credits for veterans.  In researching this issue, it appears that Social Security has a mish-mash of rules about how to credit service hours for veterans, especially for military service in World War II, the Korean War and even Vietnam.

Here is the link to a page that summarizes rules about Social Security earnings credits for veterans.  It appears to me that there is no single answer to this question – it appears that the years of service and the status of the serviceman or servicewoman determine how many credits are awarded.

Social Security has also published a booklet that summarizes the rules for calculating Social Security earnings credit for veterans of military service.  These rules include the following:

If you served in the military from 1940 through 1956, including attendance at a service academy, you did not pay Social Security taxes. However, SSA will credit you with $160 a month in earnings for military service from September 16, 1940, through December 31, 1956, if:

  • You were honorably discharged after 90 or more days of service, or you were released because of a disability or injury received in the line of duty; or

  • You are applying for survivors benefits based on a veteran’s work and the veteran died while on active duty.

You cannot receive these special credits if you are receiving a federal ­benefit based on the same years of service, unless you were on active duty after 1956. If you were on active duty after 1956, you can get the special credit for 1951 through 1956, even if you are receiving a military retirement based on service during that period.

If you served in the military from 1957 through 1977, you are credited with $300 in additional earnings for each calendar quarter in which you received active duty basic pay.

If you served in the military from 1978 through 2001, you are credited with an additional $100 in earnings, up to a maximum of $1,200 a year, for every $300 in active duty basic pay. After 2001, additional earnings are no longer credited.

If you began your service after September 7, 1980, and did not complete at least 24 months of active duty or your full tour, you may not be able to receive the additional earnings. Check with SSA for more information.

If you are dealing with this problem, do not hesitate to contact your Senator or U.S. Representative’s office for help.

[tag] Social Security earnings credit for veterans [/tag]

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