Ask Rusty: Will My SS Increase if I Keep Working After Applying?

Dear Rusty: I am going to be 67 in a few weeks and I plan on working for another year or two. The Social Security Administration (SSA) counts the best 35 years to come up with your Social Security (SS) benefit. I currently have 30 years, with 2024 and 2025 taxes yet to be filed. If I take my benefit now, will I get an upward adjustment after filing my taxes for those years, or do I need to wait to apply for SS until after filing my taxes to get credit for those years? Signed: Still Working Dear Still Working: Whenever you claim your Social Security benefit, the SSA will look at your lifetime earnings record on file at the time (as received from the IRS) and calculate your “primary insurance amount” (PIA) using that record on file. It will use your highest earning 35 years to do that calculation and, if you do not yet have 35 years, the SSA will use “zero $$” enough times to make it 35 years. In other words, your benefit will always be calculated using 35 years, whether you have 35 years of earnings on record, or not. However, the SSA revisits your earnings record whenever additional information is received from the IRS, so if file your taxes and add the additional year’s income after you start your SS benefits, you will get credit for those additional earnings. Essentially, you will be replacing one of the “zero $$” years originally used to calculate your benefit amount, and the SSA will recalculate your monthly amount to reflect that, resulting in an increase to your monthly benefit. Thus, as long as you work and earn and report your earnings to the IRS, the SSA will update your record and automatically give you a higher benefit if warranted by your more recent earnings. That recalculation usually happens after April 15, but the SSA will make any increase retroactive to the beginning of the calendar year, so you will get any higher benefit effective with January. So, since you have already reached your full retirement age (FRA), you can (if you wish) apply for Social Security now and be confident that the SSA will give you credit for any additional earnings after you apply. And for clarity, if you choose to wait beyond your FRA to claim, you will earn Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs) which will continue to increase your monthly benefit amount until you are 70 years of age. DRCs will add 8 percent to your PIA for each full year you delay (0.667 percent for each month you delay past your FRA).      

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Russell Gloor is a national Social Security advisor at the AMAC Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). The 2.4-million-member AMAC says it is a senior advocacy organization. Send your questions to: ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. Author’s note: This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained, and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). The NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity.