Workers who start Social Security before full retirement age lose benefits once their earnings pass a yearly limit, and in 2026 that limit is $24,480 for most of them and $65,160 for people who reach full retirement age during the year. Social Security’s own worked example for the higher limit shows what crossing it costs: someone who reaches full retirement age in November 2026 and earns $68,520 from January through October has $1,120 withheld.

The example comes from the agency’s publication “How Work Affects Your Benefits,” dated April 2026, and it is built on a benefit of $600 a month. Its numbers matter because they show, in dollars, how the earnings test treats a worker who is close to the finish line but not yet there.

Which 2026 earnings limit applies

Social Security’s actuarial office lists two annual exempt amounts for 2026, and which one applies depends on when the worker reaches normal retirement age, the agency’s term for full retirement age. For people who reach it after 2026, the exempt amount is $24,480. For people who reach it in 2026, the exempt amount is $65,160. Below the lower limit nothing is held back. Above it, the agency withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings over the limit. Above the higher limit, it withholds $1 for every $3.

The higher limit counts only wages from the months before the month a worker reaches full retirement age. Earnings in that month and after it do not count toward the test, so the withholding ends when the birthday month arrives. A separate monthly rule covers the first year of retirement: in 2026, Social Security treats a person as retired in any month when earnings are $2,040 or less.

That leaves a real decision for anyone who has already started benefits and is still on a payroll: keep working through the fall at full hours, or ease off until full retirement age arrives. A worker whose full retirement age falls late in 2026 can see from the November example that only wages from the months before the birthday month, and only the dollars above $65,160, put benefits at risk. A worker who reaches that age in 2027 or later faces the $24,480 limit instead, where every $2 over the line costs $1 in benefits.

The $1,120 in Social Security’s November example comes straight out of a $600 monthly benefit, and the same math decides whether a working year is worth it for anyone who claimed early. The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit includes the 2026 earnings-test rules and a claiming calculator (Excel) for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits, so a year of pay can be run against the limits before the checks start getting held.

Run a working year against the $65,160 limit in the claiming kit →

Social Security’s November example, step by step

In the example, the worker is not yet at full retirement age at the start of the year but reaches it in November 2026, and expects to earn $68,520 in the ten months from January through October. Social Security states that it “would withhold $1,120 ($1 for every $3 you earn above the $65,160 limit).” Benefits of $600 a month begin in March 2026, which means the first two checks of the year are the ones held back. Two $600 checks add up to $1,200, enough to cover the $1,120, and the remaining $80 is paid in 2027.

The ten-month window is the detail that separates this case from the lower-limit rule. Wages paid in November and December fall outside the count, because November is the month the worker reaches full retirement age. The publication measures the earnings in “the 10 months from January through October,” and nothing earned afterward adds to the withholding.

The lower-limit example

The publication’s first example uses the lower limit. A worker files at age 62 in January 2026 with a benefit of $600 a month, or $7,200 for the year, and plans to earn $26,080, which is $1,600 above the $24,480 limit. Social Security would withhold $800, “$1 for every $2 you earn over the limit.” In that case the January and February payments are held back, the $600 benefit resumes in March, and the remaining $400 is paid in 2027.

Both examples are illustrations built on a $600 monthly benefit. A larger monthly benefit would cover the same withholding in fewer held checks, while the formula in each case stays the same: $1 for every $2 over the lower limit, $1 for every $3 over the higher one.

What the 2026 table does and does not give

The actuarial table runs from 2000 through 2026 and gives the exempt amounts as annual figures. It does not publish a monthly equivalent for either limit, so the only monthly number in the 2026 rules is the $2,040 test for the first year of retirement. A worker deciding whether to take on overtime in October has to work from the annual limit, the month of full retirement age and the wages already earned that year.

Running the earnings test on a worker’s own numbers

The free place to start is Social Security’s earnings test table, which lists the limit for every year from 2000 through 2026 along with the withholding rates. The two worked examples sit in the agency’s April 2026 publication, and each one can be copied step by step: find the month of full retirement age, add the wages from the months before it, subtract the annual limit, then divide the overage by two or by three depending on which limit applies.

Before running the numbers, gather the year-to-date pay stubs, an estimate of wages through the month before full retirement age, the monthly benefit amount from the award letter and the date of birth. Those four items decide which limit applies and how many checks the withholding would take.

The figures to watch are the dividing line between the two limits, which turns on whether full retirement age arrives in 2026 or after it, and the $2,040 monthly test that applies in the first year of retirement. The $1,120 and $800 withholdings both come directly from Social Security’s own April 2026 publication.

$1,120 withheld from $600 monthly checks

Working through the fall without running the numbers can mean the first checks of the year are held back, as the first two $600 checks are in Social Security’s November example. The Social Security Claiming & Family Benefits Kit lays out the 2026 earnings-test rules next to a claiming calculator (Excel) for claiming age, break-even and survivor benefits, so the cost of earning past the limit shows up before the paycheck does.

Run a year of earnings through the 2026 earnings-test rules in the kit →

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.