How does Social Security collect overpayment - No dispute on my part

N

NBrazil

New Member
Jurisdiction
Georgia
I'm 63 and eligible for early retirement. Poor health will force me to work part-time starting in January and there is still a minimum of 20 hours a week to keep my job. It isn't enough so I will have to take early retirement. I would earn $1816/month which is more than the $1310 allowed by SS by $506.

Since the benefits are reduced by $1 for every $2 earned, that means I would have to pay back half of that $506 or $253… and I'm okay with that and disciplined enough to set it aside until needed. But I don't know HOW I will be required to pay that back.

I've been trying to get an appointment with SS for months now with no success, and may even just go there without one (but I've used up all my leave time and boss frowns on this). In the interim I've spoken with multiple "experts" and have gotten as many different answers as the people I have spoken with! Here are some of them: After doing my taxes and reporting my income SS will notify me of my overage and…

1) Withhold my SS payment/checks starting the following January until the overage is made up.

2) Ask for payment of the total within 30 days

3) Reduce my payment/benefits by 10% each month and also ask for payment

4) Cut me off

5) No big deal, it just becomes money owed when I file my taxes the following year, what's the problem?

I am okay with #2 and #5, but withholding benefits I'm not okay with - I cannot budget that.

As I said, I'm not denying the forthcoming overpayment, and my employer is allowing me to work 32 hours and keep my benefits for now (I'm struggling to do that) but will likely put me on part-time, and by my math, 20 hours a week with early retirement (and even Obamacare, with subsidies) will net me MORE than I'm making now, even paying back $1 for every $2. I just need to know HOW, because #1, 3, and 4 means I'd be out on the street within a year of implementation.
 
Have you considered holding on until your maximum retirement age of 65, 66, 67, or whatever maximum age SS has crafted for you?

You gain nothing by retiring early, at least the way you have posited your retirement dilemma.

SS uses the the blow earnings limits to reduce your benefits: If you are under full retirement age for the entire year, SS deducts $1 from your benefit payments for every $2 you earn above the annual limit.

For 2016 that limit is $15,720.

If you start with the month you reach full retirement age, you can get your benefits with no limit on your earnings. That means for you, OP, you can work full-time and draw your maximum benefits.

If SS will give you $1300/month at age 63, you'll draw about $1955 in 2 or 3 years at FULL retirement age.

I'm not a financial planner, I'm just a lawyer, but I do know money.

Why retire now, if you MUST continue to work anyway to make ends meet?
It isn't worth the $600 a month hit you'll take because of SS.
SS disability will also cause you to enter Medicare.
That means if you have health issues, you'll have to buy gap insurance coverage, and prescription coverage.
Now, you might be able to keep your employer coverage, and SS will become a secondary carrier.
But, for that "honor" SS will take another $150, something you won't be told unless you know where to look.

Make it easy on yourself, mate.
SS adds nothing to your life, unless and until, its all you have.
Fortunately in your case, you have a lot more going for yourself, if your health hold sout.
Despite your health, you must work anyway.
So, leave SS alone, keep working, and retire at your maximum age.
 
I'm quite ill, but not eligible for SSDI as I don't have a "recognized" condition.

Of course working to 66 is better (DUH), but not possible. My boss isn't going to put up with the 32 hours much longer, and reduce me to part-time, no benefits whatsoever.

I will work as long as I can, but cannot survive on 20 hours, and have spent all of my savings on medical treatments to no avail, out of pocket as insurance doesn't recognize this condition. But as my boss tells me… "You are not reliable, and I need to schedule reliable hours." I don't argue. I originally planned to work to 70 and once my debts were paid off, save like crazy. Life didn't go that way. Broke and too sick to work even at a desk job full time - so I reiterate… no benefits in the future.

My current benefits around $1251, and at 66 around $1527 according to SS (not $1955 - so only a $300 difference), no way I'd make it to 70. But this is all moot. Twenty hours is all I can handle for any length of time, and the only other resource is early retirement. I have had a CPA go over my situation, and was recommended early - may not be here to collect full.

Yah, I know money, ain't got any. Scrambling to deal with the turn of events.

I will understand if the "HOW" is obfuscated by government agents, just let me know if this is something you guys don't know. I will overmedicate for a day and camp out.
 
NBrazil said:
I'm quite ill, but not eligible for SSDI as I don't have a "recognized" condition.

Of course working to 66 is better (DUH), but not possible. My boss isn't going to put up with the 32 hours much longer, and reduce me to part-time, no benefits whatsoever.

I will work as long as I can, but cannot survive on 20 hours, and have spent all of my savings on medical treatments to no avail, out of pocket as insurance doesn't recognize this condition. But as my boss tells me… "You are not reliable, and I need to schedule reliable hours." I don't argue. I originally planned to work to 70 and once my debts were paid off, save like crazy. Life didn't go that way. Broke and too sick to work even at a desk job full time - so I reiterate… no benefits in the future.

My current benefits around $1251, and at 66 around $1527 according to SS (not $1955 - so only a $300 difference), no way I'd make it to 70. But this is all moot. Twenty hours is all I can handle for any length of time, and the only other resource is early retirement. I have had a CPA go over my situation, and was recommended early - may not be here to collect full.

Yah, I know money, ain't got any. Scrambling to deal with the turn of events.

I will understand if the "HOW" is obfuscated by government agents, just let me know if this is something you guys don't know. I will overmedicate for a day and camp out.
Click to expand...

Many of us are ill, mate.
Illness drove me to start retirement early, too.
It also saved my life, as I view it.
Not to compare our surgeries, or medical maladies, as in mine is worse than yours.
I gave you the formula SS uses.
You can do the calculations and you'll see how SS derives at their deductions for working while on early retirement.

I misread your numbers, but you corrected it.
I know every dollar counts for many people, so you can approximate what SS does.

As to secrets, I'm not a member of the ruling class.
I worked for and earned everything I possess today. along with my wonderful wife.
It wasn't luck, it was us teaming and working our asses off to prepare for life's unexpected "curve balls", my colon cancer in 2000 for example.

I spent four years in combat in 'Nam, living like a beast of the jungle.
Not complaining, just laying it out there.
Life is what you make of it, good or bad, its your life and you are tasked with making it better.

I tell everyone that the government is broke, so don't expect what they're giving you to last.
If it does, all the better for all of us.

That said, ONLY YOU can decide what will work for you.
All i know is that once you get their damn SS, they'll take back at least $120, for me much more because they say my wife and I earn too much.

I don't even use my Tri-Care for life, which I earned for my 30 years of honorable service, along with my agent orange related colon cancer and my 100% VA disability.
I buy PRIVATE health care insurance to make sure my eventual death doesn't devastate my spouse, should she survive me.

My cervical spine was destroyed with more than 1,000 combat related jumps, which resulted in a fused cervical spine operation in '05.

If it hadn't been for my military retirement, our cattle ranch, the law degree that my mother insisted I earn, and our oil holdings; I'd be financially destroyed.

I'm not complaining, I'm dealing with it.

If you wish to pursue SS, contact them, hire a lawyer to represent you, write your elected federal officials, protect and pursue your interests.

Here you go, the SS website link where THEY claim they lay it all out for a person to understand and calculate their benefits and deductions.

.
.
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What happens if I work and get Social Security retirement benefits?
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I wish you long life, better health, and improved finances.
 
If you are truly disciplined enough to set aside the overpayments, then you should be able to deal with however they take it back. For example if it is #1 and they withhold benefits, then you would pay yourself each month out of what you saved.
 
txls said:
If you are truly disciplined enough to set aside the overpayments, then you should be able to deal with however they take it back. For example if it is #1 and they withhold benefits, then you would pay yourself each month out of what you saved.
Click to expand...

Yes, 1/2 of anything above the $1310 would get socked away.

I never thought of that. Hm... kind of makes sense. I will have to examine this more closely, taxes and all. But, stream of consciousness... already paid taxes on it, so it would just replace the money losing the current year from that earned the previous year... but what happens the FOLLOWING year because I wouldn't be saving from THIS year... but also not getting the SS benefit. My head hurts.
 
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Well they should only withhold the benefit until the overage is paid then the benefits should start up again. Please note I wrote "should" more than once :).
 
Thought about it txls.

I would still need to find out how they handle portions of a benefit. I see me owing $3038, with checks at $1271. If their crack team of agents are on top of things (HA!) then 3 checks withheld and they owe me some. Would YOU count on SS to start up on check #4 in a timely manner AND reimburse me the difference in a timely manner? I doubt it, so #1 isn't clean. I still need the answer. But thank you for the effort!!! Y'see, its all about cash flow.
 
txls said:
Well they should only withhold the benefit until the overage is paid then the benefits should start up again. Please note I wrote "should" more than once :).
Click to expand...


I've seen the withholding take place in lump sums (until they claw it all back), in partial payments arranged with the victim, and with time to get the one lump sum claw back payment.

When dealing with these SS troopers, its best to deal directly with them, and get it reduced to writing, for memorialization.

YMMV
 

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