Working After Filing at 62

[kentucky62]

I tried to post this earlier but it said a moderator had to review it first and it never showed up so I will try again.

I applied for SS at age 62 and my first check will arrive in october 2019 this month. My old company has called me up asking me to do some work.

My only earnings in 2019 have been $5600 made in January 2019 nothing in Q2 or Q3. I know the annual earnings cap is $17640.

I have conflicting advice from SS as it related to the partial year on SS

One SS advisor said I can only earn $1470 a month once I apply for SS during my partial year on SS. So she says all I can earn is $1470 a month or face giving back some of the SS based on october november and december earnings that go over that monthly limit

Another advisor said I can earn up to $12,000 in the months of Oct Nov and December as that will not take me over the annual limit and being a partial year SS does not enter into it.


What is the real case for me? I don't want to suspend my filing .

In the case of a partial year on SS with my earning only being $5600 prior to filing what can i really earn these last three months and not impact my SS.

[budwad]

What is your full retirement age?

The earnings cap is annual (not monthly) so if you don't make the cap in the year you started to collect, your SS will not be reduced. So you can make $12,040. If you exceed that, they will adjust your payments in 2020.

The reality should be that you make as much as you can earn. One dollar back for every 2 earned over the limit leaves you with 1 dollar. It puts you 50% ahead even though you lost benefits from SS until you reach full retirement.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html

[kentucky62]

What is your full retirement age?

The earnings cap is annual (not monthly) so if you don't make the cap in the year you started to collect, your SS will not be reduced. So you can make $12,040. If you exceed that, they will adjust your payments in 2020.

The reality should be that you make as much as you can earn. One dollar back for every 2 earned over the limit leaves you with 1 dollar. It puts you 50% ahead even though you lost benefits from SS until you reach full retirement.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html

So there is no special rule for the year when you are only receiving partial year SS? This is what I was led to believe. IN 2020 I was told I could earn the entire $17640 in one month and as long as I had no other earnings for the rest of 2020 no impact to SS would occur. She was pretty certain in my partial year of drawing all i could have was the $1470 a month.

Th other rep said she was wrong but you can see where I'm concerned about 2019 earnings. Even if i made $12000 in the last 3 three months I would not go over the annual threshold but the first year was a tricky issue as they somehow prorated the year and forced a hard number.

[kentucky62]

What is your full retirement age?

The earnings cap is annual (not monthly) so if you don't make the cap in the year you started to collect, your SS will not be reduced. So you can make $12,040. If you exceed that, they will adjust your payments in 2020.

The reality should be that you make as much as you can earn. One dollar back for every 2 earned over the limit leaves you with 1 dollar. It puts you 50% ahead even though you lost benefits from SS until you reach full retirement.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html

So there is no special first year rule that takes the year and says you can only have 1/4 of that $17,640 is what your saying?

[kentucky62]

Why do questions on this topic get reviewed by moderators? I asked a clarification question and its now in some sort of moderator limbo? It did not happen with the initial post.

What is your full retirement age?

The earnings cap is annual (not monthly) so if you don't make the cap in the year you started to collect, your SS will not be reduced. So you can make $12,040. If you exceed that, they will adjust your payments in 2020.

The reality should be that you make as much as you can earn. One dollar back for every 2 earned over the limit leaves you with 1 dollar. It puts you 50% ahead even though you lost benefits from SS until you reach full retirement.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking.html

But what about the special rule for the first year on partial sS? i can understand if I had already earned over the $17k annual cap before retiring but i only earned $5600 does this rule still apply to me?

[Janke]

In the first year of eligibility for retirement benefits filed under full retirement age, the earnings test is monthly, not annually. The subsequent years the earnings test is annual. Very few people retire on the last day of the year so they can exceed the annual amount before they file, so that can't be fair.