FAQs

• 1 How do I sign up for Social Security benefits?

  There are three ways you can sign up for Social Security Benefits:

  1. Apply Online - You can apply for Social Security retirement benefits or medicare online using the Security Retirement/Medicare Benefit Application form. To apply online, click here.
  2. Apply In Person - You can apply for benefits in person by visiting your local Social Security office. You will have to make an appointment. To find the Social Security office near you, including their phone number and hours of operation, click here.
  3. Apply by phone - You can also call the Social Security Administration and apply for benefits over the phone. The number to call is: 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday from 7am to 7pm.
• 2 How do I qualify to receive Social Security benefits?

  To qualify for Social Security benefits, you have to work for at least 10 years in a covered employment, and accumulated the mandatory 40 credits (or be the spouse/widower(er) of someone who has). Covered employment means that you have worked in a job where you and your employer paid Social Security taxes. If you are self employed, you are responsible for paying both the employer and employee portion of the Social Security taxes on your income.

  Even if you have accumulated the required 40 credits, you can't start drawing benefits until you are 62 years or older. You are not required to start collecting benefits at age 62. You can wait up until you are 70 years old to start collecting benefits. The longer you wait, the higher your monthly benefit amount will be.

• 3 When can I begin receiving benefits?

  You can start collecting Social Security benefits at age 62, however, you will not receive the full benefit amount you’ve earned since you started drawing before your full retirement age. This reduced benefit amount is permanent – that is, the reduction applies not only to the money you collect between age 62 and your full retirement age, but all the money you’ll collect for the rest of your life. If you wait until your full retirement age, you can collect 100 percent of your benefits.

  Your full retirement age for Social Security depends on the year you were born. The chart below shows full retirement age by year of birth and how much your benefit amount (and that of your spouse) will be reduced if you start drawing Social Security benefits at age 62.

  Year of Birth	Full Retirement Age	Months Between Age 62 and Full Retirement Age	Retirement Benefit Reduced by	Spouse's Benefit Rreduced by
  1937 or earlier	65 years	36	20.00%	25.00%
  1938	65 years 2m	38	20.83%	25.83%
  1939	65 years 4m	40	21.67%	26.67%
  1940	65 years 6m	42	22.50%	27.50%
  1941	65 years 8m	44	23.33%	28.33%
  1942	65 years 10m	46	24.17%	29.17%
  1943 - 1954	66 years	48	25.00%	30.00%
  1955	65 years 2m	38	20.83%	25.83%
  1956	65 years 4m	40	21.67%	26.67%
  1957	65 years 6m	42	22.50%	27.50%
  1958	65 years 8m	44	23.33%	28.33%
  1959	65 years 10m	46	24.17%	29.17%
  1960 and later	67 years	60	30.00%	35.00%

  You can wait to collect benefits past your full retirement age, up until you are 70 years old. The longer you wait, the higher your monthly benefit amount will be. At full retirement age, you can draw Social Security benefits and still work without any impact to the amount of benefits you receive.

• 4 How do I qualify to receive Social Security benefits?

  The best time to start collecting Social Security benefits is an individual decision, based on your financial situation, health, life expectancy, and whether your spouse will continue to work or not. However, you can maximize the amount you recieve if you can wait until your full retirement age to start drawing benefits. Your full retirement age depends on the year you were born. While you are allowed to start drawing Social Security benefits at age 62, you will not get the full amount you’ve earned if you start drawing benefits before your full retirement age. In addition, at full retirement age, you can draw Social Security benefits and still work without any impact to the amount of benefits you recieve.

  Furthermore, you can delay receiving benefits past your full retirement age, up until age 70. In fact, your benefits payment amount goes up 8% for every year after full retirement age that you delay collecting payments.

  Available data shows that the most popular age to start collecting Social Security is the earliest - 62 - with about 48% of women and 42% of men drawing benefits at that age. Only 4% of women and 2% of men wait until age 70.

  The chart below shows full retirement age by year of birth. It also shows how much you or your spouse’s benefits will be reduced if you both start drawing benefits at age 62.

  Year of Birth	Full Retirement Age	Months Between Age 62 and Full Retirement Age	Retirement Benefit Reduced by	Spouse's Benefit Rreduced by
  1937 or earlier	65 years	36	20.00%	25.00%
  1938	65 years 2m	38	20.83%	25.83%
  1939	65 years 4m	40	21.67%	26.67%
  1940	65 years 6m	42	22.50%	27.50%
  1941	65 years 8m	44	23.33%	28.33%
  1942	65 years 10m	46	24.17%	29.17%
  1943 - 1954	66 years	48	25.00%	30.00%
  1955	65 years 2m	38	20.83%	25.83%
  1956	65 years 4m	40	21.67%	26.67%
  1957	65 years 6m	42	22.50%	27.50%
  1958	65 years 8m	44	23.33%	28.33%
  1959	65 years 10m	46	24.17%	29.17%
  1960 and later	67 years	60	30.00%	35.00%

• 5 Can I Work and Draw Social Security Benefits?

  Yes, you can work and receive Social Security benefit. However, how much you receive in Social Security benefits depends on how much income you are earning from work and when you started drawing Social Security benefits.

  If you started drawing Social Security before your full retirement age and make more than the yearly earnings limit, your Social Security benefits will be reduced based on how much you earn over the limit. For 2018, the limit is $17,040. The amount goes up each year.

  If you are not at full retirement age and are drawing Social Security benefits, you can work and earn up to $17,040 and still receive your entire benefits payment. If you earn more than $17,040 and won’t reach your full retirement age in 2018, the Social Security Administration will deduct $1 from your benefits payments for every $2 you earn above the annual limit.

  If you are going to reach full retirement age in 2018, they will deduct $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn above $45,360 (the amount goes up each year), until you reach your full retirement age.

  If you started drawing Social Security benefits at full retirement age, you can work and earn as much as you want and still receive your full benefit payments.

• 6 How can I receive my Social Security payments?

  According to United States Treasury Department rules, all federal benefit payments must be made electronically, including Social Security Retirement and Disability payments. You can sign up to receive your benefits via direct deposit into an account with a Bank or Credit Union. You can also sign up to receive your benefits via the Direct Express Debit MasterCard. When you contact the Social Security Administration to sign up for benefits, you will be required to provide an option to receive your benefit electronically.

• 7 Can I Change my Mind after I start Drawing Social Security?

  If you regret filing early for Social Security benefits, you can change your mind within 12 months of first receiving benefits. You must repay all the benefits you and your family received based on your retirement application (including benefits your spouse or children received whether or not they are living with you). This process is called "Request for Withdrawal". You must fill out Form SSA-521 and submit it to the SSA to withdraw your application. You have 60 days to rescind the withdrawal. You are limited to one withdrawal per lifetime.

  Note that if your spouse is receiving benefits based on your earnings record, you must obtain your spouse’s consent before the "Request for Withdrawal" application can be approved.

• 8 How Much Will I Receive in Benefits?

  How much in Social Security benefits you will receive depends on your earnings history and when you start collecting benefits. The quickest way to figure out how much you will receive in benefits is to check out your Social Security statement online. To do that, you need a my Social Security account. The Social Security statement contains a record of your earnings history, the number of credits you’ve accumulated to date, and an estimate of the retirement benefits available if you start drawing benefits at full retirement age.

• 9 How are Social Security benefits calculated?

  To calculate your benefit amount, Social Security looks at your entire work record. Here is how it works:

  1. Every year's earnings are indexed for inflation, and then the 35 highest are considered when calculating your benefit. If you don't have 35 years of earnings, zeros will be used for the remaining years.
  2. The 35 highest inflation-adjusted years are added together and averaged, to arrive at your lifetime average Social Security earnings. This amount is divided by 12 to determine your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME).
  3. Once your monthly average is determined, it is applied to this formula to determine your Primary Insurance Amount (PIA):

  Benefit Calculation Formula For Workers Retiring In 2018:

  • 90% of the first $895
  • 32% of the amount above $895, but less than or equal to $5,397
  • 15% of the amount over $5,397

  Here is an example to illustrate how this works: Let's say that your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings were $4,059. Your primary insurance amount is 90% of (895) + 32% of (4059 - 895) = $1,817.98 per month.

  When you start Drawing Benefits

  When you start drawing benefits will determine if you are going to receive all the benefits you’ve earned. While you are allowed to start drawing Social Security benefits at age 62, you will not get the full amount you are entitled to until you reach your full retirement age.

  The chart below shows full retirement age by year of birth. It also shows how much you or your spouse’s benefits will be reduced if you both start drawing benefits at age 62.

  Year of Birth	Full Retirement Age	Months Between Age 62 and Full Retirement Age	Retirement Benefit Reduced by	Spouse's Benefit Rreduced by
  1937 or earlier	65 years	36	20.00%	25.00%
  1938	65 years 2m	38	20.83%	25.83%
  1939	65 years 4m	40	21.67%	26.67%
  1940	65 years 6m	42	22.50%	27.50%
  1941	65 years 8m	44	23.33%	28.33%
  1942	65 years 10m	46	24.17%	29.17%
  1943 - 1954	66 years	48	25.00%	30.00%
  1955	65 years 2m	38	20.83%	25.83%
  1956	65 years 4m	40	21.67%	26.67%
  1957	65 years 6m	42	22.50%	27.50%
  1958	65 years 8m	44	23.33%	28.33%
  1959	65 years 10m	46	24.17%	29.17%
  1960 and later	67 years	60	30.00%	35.00%

• 10 Do I Have to Pay Taxes on My Benefits?

  Your Social Security benefits may be subject to federal income taxes. However, you cannot be taxed on more than 85 percent of your benefits. Generally, you must pay taxes on your benefits if you file a federal tax return that shows a combined income that exceeds $25,000 as an individual and $32,000 as a couple. Combined income refers to your adjusted gross income and nontaxable interest, plus one-half of your Social Security benefits.

  You may also have to pay state taxes depending on where you live.

• 11 What's the most I can be paid each month?

  Social Security does have a maximum monthly benefit at full retirement age. For 2018, if you start getting benefits at full retirement, the maximum benefit amount you can receive is $2,788. However, if you retire at age 62 in 2018, your maximum benefit would be $2,158. If you retire at age 70 in 2018, your maximum benefit would be $3,698. How much you will actually receive depends on your entire life’s work history and when you start drawing benefits.