Am I Able To Get Social Security Retirement Benefits If I'm Working?

In the past, most of the workforce may have had a more clear-cut approach to retirement. You worked long hours for roughly four decades, and at around the age of 65, you retired. Of course, there were plenty of people who didn’t follow the traditional path, but today, the dividing lines for retirement are much less clear. The Great Recession of 2008 pushed retirement back for many people.

Some people consider working and collecting Social Security benefits simultaneously. The question is: Can you get Social Security retirement benefits while still actively working? The answer is yes, but consider this choice carefully. Here are a few things to look at first.

Earn Your Credits

The point of Social Security is to have consistent income once you retire, but you first have to pay into the program by earning credits. In 2022, you need to earn $1,510 to receive one credit, or $6,040 for all four credits. This is up from the 2021 threshold of $1,470 to receive one credit, or $5,880 for all four credits.

If you were born in 1928 or later, you need 40 credits, or 10 years of earning the minimum amount, to receive full retirement benefits. For many people, that may be an easy goal to achieve. 

Before you make a decision on taking benefits while still working, contact the Social Security Administration, and check your credit balance. If you haven’t yet earned your 40 credits by age 62, consider working a few more years. If you don’t have the required credits, you aren’t eligible for Social Security retirement benefits unless you qualify for other types of benefits.

Learn About the Ages

Social Security offers retirement benefits based on age. Here’s a brief rundown of the ages you should know.

Full retirement age is between 66 and 67, depending on the year you were born. The younger you are, the higher your retirement age. Once you reach full retirement age, you can work as much as you would like, without it having any impact on your Social Security benefits.

You can’t receive Social Security retirement benefits until you reach the age of 62, so working while also receiving benefits isn’t possible until you reach that age.

The younger you are when you start receiving benefits, the less you will receive. For example, if you start receiving benefits at age 62, your monthly benefit amount is reduced by 30% for the rest of your life. The longer you wait, the more you keep, and if you wait until after full retirement age, your checks will be even higher.

Consider the Penalties

While the Social Security Administration seeks to keep your contributions as long as possible so the money can be distributed to a larger pool of payees, it does provide information about working while receiving benefits during your retirement years.

If you’re below your full retirement age but are age 62 or older, you can work and receive Social Security benefits at the same time. If you achieved full retirement age in 2021, you could have earned up to $18,240 in 2020 and still received your normal benefit amount without any penalty.

In other words, if you wanted to work and collect benefits, you could have done that as long as you stayed below the $18,240 annual income threshold. The limit applies to the year before you reach normal retirement age.

If your full retirement age is in 2022, you can earn up to $18,960 in 2021 without a reduction in benefits.

If you earn more than the maximum annual income limit in one year, Social Security will withhold $1 for every $2 you earn above that threshold. For example, suppose you are age 63 and earned $35,000 in 2020. Social Security will withhold $8,380 from your benefits check. That equates to a loss of $698 each month on top of the approximately 20% or higher benefit reduction for taking benefits before reaching full retirement age. That’s a big financial hit.

Once you reach full retirement age, things change. If you reached normal retirement age in 2020, you could have earned up to $48,600 during the months leading up to your birthday before getting penalized. So if you earned that same $35,000, you wouldn’t receive a penalty.

If you earned $55,000, Social Security would withhold $1 for every $3 you earned above the limit. If you earned $55,000, Social Security would withhold $1 for every $3 you earned above the limit. So, on your $55,000 earnings, you’d lose about $2,133, or $178 per month, leading up to the month you reach normal retirement age. That penalty would be far less severe, because you’d be so close to full retirement age. If you’re reaching normal retirement age in 2021, the limit is $50,520. That limit applies to the year in which you hit retirement age.

Do You Get the Money Back?

You will be repaid your money once you reach full retirement age. At that time, Social Security recalculates your benefit and gives you credit for the months that benefits were withheld. But remember that if you took benefits prior to full retirement age, your check will not be as large as it would have been if you had waited.

Tax Implications

Another issue with receiving Social Security benefits while working is the potential tax liability. If you are married and filing jointly with your spouse and earn more than $44,000, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. As of 2021, IRS guidelines are that if you are married and filing jointly with your spouse and have combined earnings between $32,000 and $44,000, up to 50% of your benefits may be taxable.

If you’re filing as a single taxpayer and earn more than $34,000, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. If you earn between $25,000 and $34,000, up to 50% of your benefits may be taxable.

The Bottom Line

Most financial planners agree that waiting to take benefits until you reach full retirement age may be best, if you can afford to do that. If you can’t wait and must take benefits prior to full retirement age, consider only working up to the earnings limit for that year, to avoid hurting yourself financially.

Although it seems as though continuing to work once you’re in your retirement years will produce more income, that may not necessarily be true when Social Security is involved. Because Social Security benefits can be complicated, especially when combined with other financial factors in your life, it may be best to talk to a financial planner about the best way to maximize your benefits.

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