Ask Larry

If I retire and start collecting social security at age 70 in July of this year can my wife file born in sept of 1954 file a restricted application in order to collect spousal benefits on my account

Hi. No, your wife couldn't apply for spousal benefits without being forced to claim her own benefits at the same time. Only people born prior to January 2 1954 are allowed to file a restricted application for spousal benefits only (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html).

You and your wife may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your various options so that you can determine the best overall strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry

If I am collecting survivor benefits and some are withheld due to my working, when I switch to my own benefits at or after my FRA, will the withheld benefits be repaid in any way?
I know they are if I stay on survivor benefits.
Thanks much

Hi. Benefits withheld due to the Social Security earnings test are never returned to the beneficiary in any type of a lump sum form. What happens instead is that when a person who collected reduced benefits reaches full retirement age (FRA), the reduction for age applied to their benefit rate is adjusted to remove the percentage reduction for any months that their benefits were withheld due to the earnings test. That results in an increase in the person's monthly benefit rate starting with the month they reach FRA. The reduction factor adjustment applies to Social Security retirement, spousal, and survivor benefits.

Therefore, the only 'repayment' made to a beneficiary for benefits lost due to the earnings test is in the form of a higher monthly benefit rate starting at FRA. So, if you switch at FRA from survivor benefits to a higher retirement benefit, then the reduction factor adjustment applied to your survivor rate won't be of any benefit to you. Any increase resulting from the reduction factor adjustment would only apply to your survivor rate, not your own retirement benefit rate. However, if you wait past FRA before switching to your retirement benefits, then you would receive the higher adjusted survivor rate for the months from your FRA until the month that you switch to your own benefits.

It sounds like you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry

i was married for 15 years, divorced and remarried at age 50. I keep reading that you forfeit survivor benefit if you remarry before age 60. I am currently married 3 yrs in my second marriage. So does this mean if I become widowed I would not get my 2nd husband survivor benefit when I turn 60.?Is that what they mean by marriage penalty if married before 60 ? My 2nd husband benefit earning is higher than my 1st husbands.

Hi. No. It sounds like you have a misunderstanding about Social Security's regulations. When you remarry prior to age 60 after divorcing a prior spouse, it simply prevents you from being able to collect survivor benefits from your previous spouse's record for as long as your remarriage is continuing. If your second husband dies, you could then potentially qualify for survivor benefits on either of your husband's accounts provided that you meet the other requirements for benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0401.html, https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0403.html).

Best, Jerry

I plan on filing for Social Security benefits now and telling them to start in July since I will be 70 28 July. However I am still covered under my wife's Insurance since she is still working. I do not need Medicare Part B at this time. I did sign up for Medicare Part A when I turned 65 just to be in the system. As long as my wife still continues to work and I am covered, how long do we both have to sign up for Medicare after she decides to stop working?

Hi. There is no upper age limit on when you could claim Part B of Medicare. As long as your wife continues working and you both have coverage under her employer group health plan (EGHP) with a minimum of 20 employees, then you could both wait until she retires to enroll in Part B. And, as long as you enroll within 8 months of her retirement, there would be no late filing penalties. However, you would need to apply no later than the first full month of your wife's retirement in order to avoid a gap in coverage. Refer to the following Social Security website for more information: https://www.ssa.gov/help/iClaim_medSEP.html.

Best, Jerry

Hi Larry,
My husband of 30+ years at the time of his death, passed away in 2012 at the age of 57. I was age 49. We had had 4 children together, the youngest being age 19 at the time of his father's death. My husband was the main breadwinner and I mainly worked raising the four children while working part time odd jobs while I went to school as my first child was born when I was 19 years old. I was told after his death that I would be able to collect on my husband's social security when he reached retirement age. I understand the laws were changed under the Obama administration and that benefit was taken away. I hope politicians can understand what a hardship it was for me not only losing my husband rather unexpectedly at a young age, but also trying to maintain mortgage payments on my home that I had lived in and raised my family in for 23 years now without my spouse's income. His disease diagnosis in his early 30's left him uninsurable. My question is two fold: can I collect social security based upon his income? If so, and that safety net for me is indeed gone, thanks to that 2015 ruling, when might be the best time to apply for social security benefits? He would have been 68 and I am 61.

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. No Social Security changes occurred during the Obama Administration that would affect your filing options with regard to survivor benefits. Also, your husband's retirement age has no bearing on when you could start collecting widow's benefits, so you were apparently given some misinformation.

The facts are that assuming you haven't remarried, you could have claimed reduced widow's benefits as early as age 60, or even at age 50 if you were disabled. Whether or not you'd want to start drawing your survivor benefits early, though, depends on the following factors: a) whether you're insured for Social Security benefits based on your own earnings, and if so, how your own benefit rate would compare to your survivor rate, and b) whether or not you're working, and if so, how much you're earning. If you claim benefits prior to your full retirement age (FRA), there is a limit on how much you can earn and still be paid benefits.

It sounds like your best strategy for claiming benefits would likely be one of the following:
1) File for reduced widow's benefits now or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then switch to your own record at age 70; or,
2) File for reduced retirement benefits on your own record at age 62 or as soon as your earnings will permit at least some benefits to be paid, then file for unreduced widow's benefits at your FRA.

Normally, you would want to start out drawing the lower benefit first and then switch to the higher benefit when it reaches its highest potential rate. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) could help sort all of this out for you so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry

Is there a good reference for learning the nuances to filing and learning the strategies for filing for social security for a married couple? I'm retired and have continued working as a contractor (I'm currently a few months beyond my FRA) and my wife works full time (she just turned 61) and plans to continue working FT for another 2 - 3 years.

Hi. Yes. Larry's book 'Get What's Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security (Revised Edition)" is a great source of information on strategies to use when filing for Social Security benefits. You and your spouse should also strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your various options so that you can determine your best filing strategy for maximizing your benefits. The software is specifically designed to analyze and compare all of the numerous variables involved in determining optimal filing strategies for couples and individuals alike.

Best, Jerry

Hello,
I turned 65 1/11/2023 My husband turns 65, March 16th, 2024. He wants to retire at 65, ii may or may not wait till my FRD of 66 and 8 months. We are selling a 2nd home this year and will be hit with Capital gains tax. How will the profit of the home or capital gains tax affect the calculations of ssi when we retire next year? Will this also affect how much we are charged for Medicare?
Thank you,
Donna

Hi Donna. Income from selling a home and any taxes paid on that income have no effect on Social Security benefits. Part B Medicare premium rates can be higher for people with higher incomes, but how your capital gains might affect your and your husband's Part B premium rates in any given year would depend on your annual income. For more specific details on how a person's income can affect their Part B Medicare premium rate, refer to the following Medicare website: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2023-medicare-parts-b-premiums-and-deductibles-2023-medicare-part-d-income-related-monthly.

Your and your husband's best strategy for when to claim Social Security benefits depends on many different factors. You should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry

I am drawing ssdi for about 10 yrs I am 57 my ex spouse of 23 years turned 62 this year can I start receiving his ss benefit ?

Hi. No. The earliest that you could potentially qualify for divorced spousal benefits on the account of a living ex-spouse is age 62. And, even then, you could only qualify for divorced spousal benefits if 50% of your ex's primary insurance amount (PIA) is more than twice as much as your own PIA. A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA), or their full Social Security disability (SSDI) benefit rate.

Furthermore, if you do qualify for divorced spousal benefits and if you claim those benefits prior to your FRA, your divorced spousal rate would be reduced for age.

Best, Jerry

Hi Larry. My wife is retiring from General Motors on 4/1/2023. She applied for SS prior to becoming avavaible for and unaware that she will be receiving a substantial severance package. Her SS will become effective sometime after her 4/1/2023 retirement date and payout unknown at this time.
My question is, will the severance be considered a "Special Pyment" in the eyes of SS? I have received conflicting answers from SS employees depending on who I ask the question to.
I would appreciate an answer from you with your knowledge of Social Security on this question.
Thank you,
Doug

Hi Doug. Assuming that your wife's severance pay is a payment made on account of retirement (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0302505045), then yes it could be considered as a special wage payment (SWP) and would not be counted for purposes of Social Security's earnings test. However, Social Security will only receive a copy of your wife's W-2 form, so in order to get the severance pay excluded as an SWP your wife would need to submit to Social Security a form SSA-131 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-131.pdf) that's completed by her employer. Note, though, that the earnings test only applies up until a person reaches their full retirement age (FRA), so the form SSA-131 will only be necessary if your wife is under FRA.

By the way, if your wife hasn't already done so she should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of her various filing options in order to make sure that she chooses the best strategy for maximizing her benefits.

Best, Jerry

I am a 1099 filer using form 1040. Am I paying into social security using this for or is there another form for paying into SS.

Hi. Only if you pay self-employment (SE) taxes in addition to your income taxes. If you receive a form 1099 for working as an independent contractor, then you'd need to report that income as self-employment on your tax return in order to get Social Security credits. To determine the amount of SE taxes owed, you must first complete a Schedule C or F in order to determine your net profit from self-employment. Then, if you have a net profit of $400 or more, you'd need to complete a Schedule SE to determine the amount of SE taxes that you owe.

For more detailed information, refer to the following IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/self-employed-individuals-tax-center.

Best, Jerry