Category: Social Security
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Social Security lists seven changes SSI recipients must report by the 10th of the following month, from a new living arrangement to 30 straight days outside the U.S.
Anyone who gets Supplemental Security Income has seven kinds of life changes to report, and each report is due by the 10th of the month after the change. Social Security laid out the seven in an October 7 letter to advocates who help SSI recipients. They run from a new living arrangement to 30 straight…
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Public-sector retirees who never applied after the Windfall Elimination Provision repeal can generally get only six months of Social Security back pay
Retroactive checks have a short reach for public-sector retirees who never applied after Congress ended the Windfall Elimination Provision. Social Security says on its Social Security Fairness Act page that back pay for some retirement and survivor’s benefits is “generally limited to six months before the month in which the benefit application is filed.” The…
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Social Security checks withheld from working retirees come back as a bigger benefit later
SSA’s own example starts with a $910 monthly check claimed at 62 in 2026. A person who takes that check and keeps working can have benefits withheld, and the agency’s April 2026 publication How Work Affects Your Benefits says what comes next: “The amount that your benefits are reduced, however, isn’t lost.” The benefit rises…
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A retired couple both on Social Security averages $3,208 a month in 2026 and a widowed mother with two children $3,898, SSA estimates
The $3,898 that Social Security lists for a widowed mother with two children is a family total, and the $3,208 for an aged couple covers two checks, not one. Both come from SSA’s 2026 cost-of-living fact sheet, which estimates average monthly benefits payable in January 2026 after the 2.8% raise. The fact sheet’s figures are…
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Giving away savings to qualify for SSI can block payments up to 36 months
A gift of savings is a decision with a price tag in SSI. Social Security’s 2026 resources guide says that giving away a resource, or selling it for less than it is worth, may make a person ineligible for SSI benefits for up to 36 months. What the rule covers The wording in the resources…
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Working retirees can get a Social Security raise in December, back-dated to January
Nobody files a form for this raise. Each year, Social Security reviews the records of beneficiaries who kept working, and when the latest year of pay turns out to be one of a worker’s highest, the agency “refigures” the benefit and pays the increase on its own. SSA’s April 2026 publication How Work Affects Your…
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SSI recipients in Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia get no state supplement on top of the federal payment, Social Security’s list shows
In six states, the federal SSI rate is all that Social Security’s benefit list shows. Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia do not add a state supplement to the payment, and neither does the Northern Mariana Islands. The federal base and who adds to it The SSI benefits page says that effective…
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SSI recipients have nine months to spend a back-benefit lump sum and 12 months for an earned income tax credit refund before either counts as savings
Two clocks start running the day certain money reaches an SSI recipient. Social Security’s 2026 resources guide gives retroactive SSI or Social Security benefits nine months before they count toward the savings limit, and earned income tax credit payments 12 months. Why a lump sum is a problem for a $2,000 limit SSI is built…
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SSI can pay the full state maximum to people in a public shelter for up to six months in any nine-month period, and no address is required, Social Security says
Losing a home does not end SSI. Social Security’s 2026 guide to SSI living arrangements says a person who is homeless has the benefit figured the same way as someone living in their own house, and that the payment does not depend on having a street address. Six months out of nine at the full…
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Spouses who claim Social Security at 62 take a bigger cut than workers do, turning a $500 spousal benefit into $325 for people born in 1960 or later
Two people born in 1960 can start Social Security at 62 and take different hits: 30% off the worker’s check and 35% off the spouse’s. SSA’s age-reduction table shows the spouse’s side of that gap. A spousal benefit that would be $500 at full retirement age becomes $325 at 62 for anyone born in 1960…