What Is The Trial Work Period
The SSA allows you to test your ability to work without losing your SSDI benefits. This trial work period allows you nine months in a five-year period to work without worrying about risking your benefits. The nine months do not have to be consecutive.
It is important to note that only a certain amount of money will trigger a month of service. For the year 2017, if a person earns more than $840 a month, that month will count as a month of service toward the total of nine months. This means any months that you make below this amount do not count as part of your trial work period.
Expedited Reinstatement Of Benefits
At the end of the EPE there is an additional five year period called âexpedited reinstatement of benefits.â If the original impairment flairs up within five years of the end of the 36-month EPE, preventing the individual from earning SGA, Social Security can reinstate the SSDI benefits provisionally while a medical review is completed. If the medical review confirms the disability condition or blindness, then the provisional SSDI benefits will be made permanent. If the medical review concludes that there is not a medical disability, SSDI benefits will be immediately terminated but with no overpayment for benefits paid provisionally.
How Many Hours Can I Work While On Ssdi
Home » FAQs » Social Security Disability » How Many Hours Can I Work While On SSDI?
To receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, you must meet specific criteria. If you are earning money, you can only make up to a certain amount to qualify for benefits. For most people, how many hours you work doesnt count as much as how muchyou earn per month on SSDI.
The Social Security Administration will determine whether youre engaging in substantial gainful activity . SGA means:
- You are earning more than a certain monthly amount .
- For 2020, the SGA amount is $1,260 per month. For blind individuals, the SGA is $2,110 per month.
- Its essential to check the SGA each year, as it can increase.
Most of the time, how much you earn matters more than work hours. However, there are exceptions.
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How Much Can I Work And Still Receive Benefits
The amount you are allowed to work differs for the Social Security Administration s two benefit programs. Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplementary Security Income have different rules and program requirements.
Social Security Disability Insurance
For SSDI, you can only receive benefits if you cannot work a full time job, or enough to be considered substantial gainful activity . Therefore, most recipients receive SSDI in place of working. It is possible to work part time, but this can make it harder to prove you cannot work full time. If you are on SSDI already, you cant start making the SGA amount regularly. To make it easier for you to go back to work, they offer a nine-month trial period. You can receive full benefits for nine months while making over the SGA for nine months to test if you are able to work with your disability. In 2020, any month that you make more than $940 or work more than 80 hours if youre self-employed is considered a trial month.
If you return to work and lose your benefits, you are still eligible for Medicare for at least 93 months after your nine-month trial period.
Supplementary Security Income
The amount of your monthly payment depends on your income. If your income decreases while on SSI, your payments can be increased up until the limit of $794. If you income increases, your payments will be decreased.
Learn How Social Security Disability Insurance And Supplemental Security Income Provide Benefits When You Cant Work Because Of Sickness Or Injury
Many people in Michigan are unable to work because of sickness or injury, yet theyre not aware that there is federal financial help available.
The Social Security Administration manages various programs that provide disability benefits to individuals in Michigan who cannot work. Below is information about what help might be available to you.
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Why Ssdi Requires Work Credits
As the acronym indicates, SSDI is an insurance program. You pay the premiums of this program through the Social Security deductions that your boss takes out of your paycheck and sends to the government on your behalf. That money helps to fund the monthly Social Security disability and retirement checks that people receive.
On the other hand, the source of funding for SSI benefits is general revenues, like income taxes and additional money that the government collects. Because SSI does not use payroll deductions for Social Security taxes as its source of funding, you do not have to pay into the system and accumulate work credits to be eligible for these benefits.
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Social Security Work Incentives
The SSA offers incentives to help people on SSDI or SSI get back to work, without jeopardizing their current benefits. These incentives include:
- Anine-month trial work period where you can still receive full Social Security benefits, regardless of how much money youre earning, as long as your reporting your work to the SSA.
- Anextended 36-month eligibility period where you can receive Social Security benefits for any month that you earn less than $1,260 .
- Expedited reinstatement, which includes a five-year period where you can request for the SSA to restart your benefits if your disability prevents you from continuing to work, without having to go through the entire application process again.
- Anextension of Medicare coverage for at least 96 months after your 9-month trial work period, if your Social Security Disability benefits have ended due to your earnings, but you are still disabled.
For more information, call. Our attorneys serve disabled clients inYork,Lancaster,Hanover,Harrisburg,Carlisle, and the surrounding communities in Pennsylvania.
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How Do Ssdi And Social Security Retirement Work Together
SSDI pays out your full retirement benefits until you qualify to draw them under the traditional Social Security retirement scheme. Once you reach full retirement age based on the year you were born, the SSA will automatically start your retirement benefits and cease your SSDI payments.
The SSA allows you to file for retirement benefits as early as age 62, or wait and receive your full benefit amount when you reach full retirement age. Depending on what year you were born, this may vary from 65 to 67 years old. For most people, it does not make sense to file for early retirement benefits at age 62 if you are already receiving SSDI because of a disability. Your disability payments equal your full retirement amount, and those who opt for early retirement receive reduced benefits.
Imagine that, at age 60, you suffer a back injury leading to a disability. You are approved for SSDI benefits and you begin drawing an amount equal to your full retirement amount. When you reach age 62, nothing changes you continue to draw your full SSDI amount. Once you reach your full retirement age, the SSA swaps you from SSDI to traditional retirement benefits. However, this occurs automatically so you will not see a break in your benefits and do not need to do anything to ensure this happens.
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What Do I Need To Know About Advance Designation
You should be aware of another type of representation called Advance Designation. This relates to the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018, which was signed into law on April 13, 2018.
Advance Designation allows capable adult and emancipated minor applicants and beneficiaries of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Special Veterans Benefits to choose one or more individuals to serve as their representative payee in the future, if the need arises.
To help protect whats important to you, we now offer the option to choose a representative payee in advance. In the event that you can no longer make your own decisions, you and your family will have peace of mind knowing you already chose someone you trust to manage your benefits. If you need a representative payee to assist with the management of your benefits, we will first consider your advance designees, but we must still fully evaluate them and determine their suitability at that time.
You can submit your advance designation request when you apply for benefits or after you are already receiving benefits. You may do so through your personal account, by telephone, or in person.
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How Common Is It To Receive Both Social Security Disability And Workers Comp Benefits
Unfortunately many work injuries cause lifelong physical disability and even mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. And when they do, the injured worker may qualify for SSDI.
According to the Social Security Administrations 2017 Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, approximately 467,000 disabled workers on the Social Security Disability Insurance program had filed for workers compensation or public disability benefits. This did not include the number of workers who suffered injuries on the job that did not qualify for workers comp. Or those injured workers receiving private insurance benefits.
The SSA reported that among disabled workers receiving both SSDI and workers comp benefits, a disease of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue was the primary diagnosis. This category includes problems resulting from herniated discs, back injuries, neck injuries, shoulder injuries, knee injuries, spinal cord injuries, hip injuries, ankle injuries, and arthritis and degenerative disc disease.
Mental health disorders were the second leading cause of disability.
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How Much Work Do You Need
In addition to meeting our definition of disability, you must have worked long enough and recently enough under Social Security to qualify for disability benefits.
Social Security work credits are based on your total yearly wages or self-employment income. You can earn up to four credits each year.
The amount needed for a work credit changes from year to year. In 2021, for example, you earn one credit for each $1,470 in wages or self-employment income. When you’ve earned $5,880, you’ve earned your four credits for the year.
The number of work credits you need to qualify for disability benefits depends on your age when you become disabled. Generally, you need 40 credits, 20 of which were earned in the last 10 years ending with the year you become disabled. However, younger workers may qualify with fewer credits.
For more information on whether you qualify, refer to How You Earn Credits.
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Working And Ssi Benefits
You can begin to work and continue to receive SSI benefits as long as your wages and other resources do not exceed the SSA’s income limit for SSI however, your monthly benefit amount will be reduced in proportion to your income.
Here’s how the SSA reduces your income. Both the federal benefit amount and the SSI countable income limit are $794 . The SSA will reduce your benefit by the amount of your countable income. Fortunately, not all of your income is countable income.
If your only income is from your job, the SSA does not include the first $85 you earn toward your countable income. After taking the $85 adjustment off of your income, the SSA will deduct, from your monthly benefits, 50 cents for every dollar you earn. For example, an individual who earns $1,000 a month from working has $457.50 of countable income . The individual’s monthly SSI benefit amount would be reduced by $457.50.
Your monthly benefit amount is also affected by the amount your state adds to the federal SSI payment, if any. For more information, see our article on how much SSI pays.
If your SSI payments stop because you earn too much money , but you are subsequently forced to quit work because of your disability, the SSA will reinstate your benefits without the need for a new application for a period of five years.
Learn more about the SSI work incentive programs.
What Can Cause Benefits To Stop
Two things can cause us to decide that you are no longer disabled and to stop your benefits:
-
if you work at a level we consider substantial.
In 2021, average earnings of $1,310 or more per month are usually considered substantial. The amount of earnings that we consider substantial changes each year.
- if we decide that your medical condition has improved to the point that you are no longer disabled.
Remember, you are responsible for promptly reporting any improvement in your condition, or if you return to work. The booklet we send you when your application is approved explains what you need to report to us. For more information on what else may cause your benefits to stop, refer to How We Decide if You Still Have a Qualifying Disability.
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Ssi/ssdi And Employment: A Brief Overview Of Ssa Work Incentives
Case managers are encouraged to support individuals to pursue their vocational goals, both before and after an application for SSI/SSDI. This overview will briefly discuss how the Social Security Administration views work activity during an SSI/SSDI application, and work incentives available to individuals when they are receiving disability benefits.
Working While Applying For Benefits
Keep in mind that the mere fact that you are working, even if you are making less than $1,310 per month, may influence whether a disability claims examiner or a disability judge believes you are disabled, especially if you’re working more than 15 or 20 hours a week. For this reason, many disability lawyers and representatives will advise their clients not to work while their case is pending. For more information, see our article on whether you have to quit work when applying for disability benefits.
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Talk To A Disability Lawyer
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Self-help services may not be permitted in all states. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site. The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use, Supplemental Terms, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Social Security Disability Evaluation Process
While there are some conditions that the Social Security Administration considers so severe that they automatically render an applicant disabled, many conditions require careful screening, including answering these five questions:
In addition, qualifying conditions must be expected to last at least one year or result in death.
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How Many Hours Are You Working
Another aspect to consider is whether or not youre working full-time or part-time.
How much you work affects your income. Youre more likely to be over SGA if youre working full-time than if youre working part-time.
However, how much youre working affects your claim beyond your income level. It also tells Social Security something about your disabling condition.
How Works Affects Your Ssi Payment
It’s important to understand how SSI benefit amounts are calculated before you can figure out how working will affect your payments.
For the year 2021, the SSA will pay up to $794 in SSI benefits . This amount is called the federal benefit rate . Your monthly benefit amount is the difference between the FBR and your countable income. Your countable income is made up of the following:
- wages you are paid from your job
- the value of free food and shelter provided for you
- support money from family or friends , and
- payments from other sources, like veterans benefits or unemployment.
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