Many people who rely on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) find it difficult to make ends meet. Thus, they are forced to work. However, working and earning income can affect your SSDI benefits. So, how does one maintain SSDI benefits while working?
To maintain SSDI benefits while working, it is important to make sure that your income stays below the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) limits. Joining the Social Security Administration’s ticket-to-work program is also an option worth considering.
Read below for four tips on how to maintain your SSDI benefits while working.
Tips to Maintain SSDI Benefits While Working
Following are some tips you can follow to maintain your SSDI benefits while working.
1. Start with a Trial
It’s smarter to test the waters with a trial return to work to protect your benefits than to risk losing them all at once. It is Social Security’s policy to allow disabled SSDI beneficiaries to temporarily exceed the SGA amount in order to encourage them to return to the workforce.
You need to be familiar with the following particular guidelines if you plan to work while receiving SSDI benefits.
Trial Work Period
This program gives you complete freedom to evaluate your capacity to work. No matter how much money you bring in while participating in a trial work period, you will not be disqualified from receiving the benefits you are entitled to receive.
A trial work period lasts for nine months, during which time you are permitted to work and earn any amount while still being eligible to collect SSDI. Those nine months of work can be stretched out over a period of five years.
In most cases, you are only allowed one trial work term; any months that are still left over after five years will be lost, and the term cannot be reset.
Any month in 2023 in which you earn more than $1,050 will count as a trial work month for Social Security purposes.
This income limit is less than the SGA amount, so even if you don’t earn SGA throughout your trial work term, you might still use up one of your nine months. If you are self-employed, Social Security will count each month in which you work longer than 80 hours as a trial work month.
If you continue to earn more than SGA after completing your trial work period, you may lose eligibility for continued benefits. However, Social Security will not immediately stop paying you. Instead, you’ll be eligible for a longer window of time.
Extended Period of Eligibility
To clarify, your “extended period of eligibility” is the three years following the conclusion of your trial work period during which Social Security makes a monthly determination as to whether or not you are disabled.
During this period, you are eligible to receive SSDI for any month in which your income is at or below the SGA level. Disability payments will stop in the month that you earn more than SGA.
However, Social Security doesn’t want to abruptly terminate recipients’ eligibility for SSDI, so it created a special one-time window called the “grace period.” The grace period permits you to earn more than SGA for three consecutive months without losing eligibility for benefits during the extended term of eligibility.
If you keep working at the SGA level after that, your benefits will terminate. Otherwise, the agency will resume its monthly reviews of your status.
Expedited Reinstatement
There is a separate five-year period after the EPE ends called “expedited reinstatement of benefits.” If the original impairment worsens and prevents the claimant from working for SGA within five years after the conclusion of the 36-month EPE, Social Security may temporarily reinstate SSDI payments while a medical evaluation is conducted.
Provisional SSDI benefits may become permanent if the medical assessment verifies the applicant’s disability or blindness.
If the medical evaluation determines that you do not have a medical disability, your SSDI benefits will end immediately, but you will not be responsible for repaying any excess payments made while your case is pending.
Continuation of Medicare
Your free Medicare Part A premium will remain in effect for at least 93 months following the completion of a nine-month trial work term if your Social Security disability benefits are terminated on account of your earnings, but you continue to qualify for disability benefits due to a medical condition.
After that, you’ll be able to buy coverage under Medicare Part A by paying the required monthly payment. If you have Medicare Part B, you must keep paying your premium. Stopping your Medicare Part B coverage requires a written request.
2. Don’t Go Over the SGA
While receiving SSDI, you may work, but your earnings must be below what is considered “substantial gainful activity” by Social Security.
The SGA is the maximum amount of money the administration will allow you to make before they consider you able to be working full time. In 2023, if your monthly income is over $1,470 (or $2,460 if you are blind), you will be considered to be making SGA.
If you’re receiving Social Security disability payments because you can’t work full-time, but you’re making more than SGA, the Social Security Administration may reevaluate your disability status.
According to Social Security’s guidelines, you worked full-time in a month even if you earned all $1,470 in one day and were afterward unable to work for the remainder of the month.
As long as your income from work remains below the SGA level, you will be eligible to receive SSDI payments indefinitely. However, even if you never made more than SGA, Social Security can still terminate your benefits if they believe that your medical condition has improved to the point that you can return to work full-time.
Impairment-Related Work Expenses (IRWEs)
When calculating whether or not you have engaged in SGA, you may be entitled to deduct any costs you incurred because of your disability that directly contributed to your capacity to work.
These expenditures are referred to as Impairment-Related Work Expenses (IRWEs), and they may include things like job training, commute charges, and expensive medical supplies.
3. Report Any Changes
Social Security requires the following information from those who receive SSDI:
- dates indicating when a job begins and ends
- any shifts in responsibilities, hours, or salary, and
- disability-related costs incurred by the employee while working
It is your responsibility to inform Social Security of your monthly wage total (if any). You can submit your financial information via phone, mail, in person, online, or even a mobile app provided by the agency.
If you receive Supplemental Security Income or Supplemental Security Disability Insurance, you must record certain types of income with Social Security, while other types of income are not subject to reporting.
The Social Security Administration is concerned with four kinds of earnings:
Earned Income
Income from a job, profits from a side business, and royalties (from things like patents or copyrights) all count as income.
Unearned Income
Pensions, unemployment pay, Social Security retirement, dividends, interest, and monetary gifts all fall under this category.
In-kind income
In-kind income refers to any sort of payment other than cash, such as free meals and lodging from a friend or family member.
Deemed Income
The amount of income earned by a person’s spouse, parent(s), or sponsor is one of the factors that Social Security considers when determining the total amount of benefits that an individual is eligible to receive under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
If you are going to report your pay over the phone, you have until the sixth of the month following the month in which you got your income to do so.
The deadline for mailing your paperwork or taking your pay stubs to your local Social Security field office is the 10th of the following month. See the Social Security Administration’s website for a full rundown of what proof of income is required.
4. Enroll in the Ticket to Work Program
The Ticket to Work program helps those on SSDI or Supplemental Security Income advance their careers. People with disabilities who are interested in gaining employment and financial independence can take advantage of this no-cost, optional service.
Participants have access to a variety of programs to help them find and keep a job, including training, vocational counseling, and job placement assistance. Approved Ticket to Work service providers offer the following to eligible participants:
- Employment Networks (ENs)
- Rehabilitation (VR) offices at the state level
- Planning and aid for work incentives (WIPA)
- Social Security beneficiary protection and advocacy groups
Is It a Good Idea To Return To Work?
If you are receiving SSDI payments, you may be wondering whether or not it is worthwhile to look for work. There are lots of people who can relate to your situation. After waiting so long for SSDI approval, the prospect of losing benefits is terrifying.
However, this is not necessarily the case. This is exactly why the trial work period exists. It takes away the worry that comes with finding work and maybe losing your benefits.
You can now put your plans to the test and see how well they hold up. You might not always be able to work and collect SSDI payments, but it is possible. During these nine months, you are allowed to keep receiving SSDI payments even if your income exceeds $1,470 per month (or $2,460 for blind individuals).
If you have to stop working due to your disability and your SSDI benefits have stopped, you have five years from the conclusion of your trial work period to apply for reinstatement. As a result, you’ll be relieved of a tremendous amount of stress. You can get disability payments without filing another application for the next five years.
How Social Security Learns About Your Employment
How will Social Security know you have a job and how much money you’ve made if you don’t tell them? There are many ways that Social Security can learn about your employment.
Your Employer Reports Social Security Earnings
Most employers provide their employees’ Social Security earnings records annually by reporting their income to the IRS. The Social Security Administration receives a copy of your W-2 form at the same time you do each year.
Your employment status will be verified with Social Security if your employer files a wage report using your Social Security number.
Someone You Know Has Reported You to Social Security
Is it possible to get work done “under the table?” Even if you are only paid in cash for your labor, those earnings count toward the criteria used to determine disability eligibility; therefore, you are required to report them to Social Security.
In most cases, Social Security finds out about people who earn money while receiving disability payments because someone reports them. Reports from people can come from:
- friends
- members of family
- divorced or separated partners
- co-workers
- managers
- neighbors
The Social Security Administration must verify each of these claims to see if the claimant is, in fact, employed.
Disability Reviews May Tell Social Security You’re Working
The Social Security Administration may become aware of a claimant’s employment status during a continuing disability review (CDR).
If your doctor writes in your CDR that you’ve been performing “work” or “something that sounds like work,” Social Security may interpret this as evidence that you’re able to return to the workforce.
How Does Non-Reporting of Work Affect Social Security Benefits?
Social Security is tough on those who fraudulently claim disability payments by failing to declare any employment. Those who attempt to defraud the system face consequences.
In the best-case scenario, you can end up owing money to Social Security because of the overpayment you received. You may also face a penalty of $25 to $100 or have your benefits withheld for up to six months (for a first violation) or a year (for a second violation) by the Social Security Administration. If convicted, you could lose your Social Security benefits and be subject to other consequences, including a possible $250,000 fine and a potential jail sentence of up to five years.
Conclusion
There are many things you can do while working to make sure you continue to receive your SSDI benefits. To find out how your work can impact your disability benefits, consult a disability attorney.
