Why Your Social Security Benefits Are Lesser than Expected

Why Your Social Security Benefits Are Lesser than Expected

There are certain reasons why your social security benefits are lesser than what you expected. This article lists some of those reasons.

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Social security insurance, whether retirement benefits or disability benefits, is a major income resource for retired Americans. People who are receiving disability benefits following a detailed medical records analysis and other government processes will have these benefits changed to retirement benefits when they retire. Workers can create a My Social Security account and receive a personalized estimate of their future social security payments at various ages. Sometimes, they may find that their benefits turn out to be less than the amount listed on their statement. There are certain reasons for this.  Change in your earnings: A worker’s social security payments are calculated based on his/her 35 highest earning years in the workforce. If you don’t work for any of those 35 years, zeros are averaged into the calculation. This reduces your monthly payments. The estimate that is listed on your statement assumes that you will continue to earn your current salary. If you take a pay cut or stop working, your benefits will also decrease. Low-earning years such as when you worked part time will also bring down the benefit amount. If you worked for less than 35 years, the SSA (Social Security Administration) will use $0 for the number of years you did not work.

This will also bring down the average.  You claimed early: Your social security statement gives an estimate of the benefits you are likely to receive at age 62, your full retirement age and age 70. If you sign up for social security at another age, you may receive a different amount. Your monthly social security payments are reduced if you claim benefits before your full retirement age, which is 66 for most baby boomers, and 67 for those born in 1960 or later. A person retiring before his/her social security full retirement age should understand that their actual benefit will be lower than the benefit stated on the social security statement.  Increase in Medicare Part D premium: You can choose to have your Medicare Part D premiums withheld from your social security payment. These premiums may be different according to the plan you select, and may change each year. A premium increase may result in a reduced social security check amount.  Medicare Part B premiums withheld: Most social security beneficiaries have their Medicare Part B premiums withdrawn from their social security check. In 2018, the standard Medicare Part B premium is $134 per month. Since Medicare Part B premiums are prohibited by law from reducing benefit payments for most existing social security recipients, a premium increase will not further reduce your social security payments

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after you have enrolled in both programs, but could claim part of or all of your annual social security COLA (cost-of-living adjustment). If you are a retiree with income exceeding $85,000 as an individual or $170,000 as part of a married couple, you have to pay higher Medicare Part B premiums. People having Medicare Part B and/or Medicare Part D withheld from their social security checks and their modified gross income crosses one of the income related monthly adjustment amount thresholds, it could cause their benefits to decrease. This is more possible in a year where there has been no COLA increase. ďƒ˜ Taxes involved: People having social security as their only source of retirement income probably won’t be paying taxes on it. However, if they have another source of retirement income, a portion of their benefits may be taxable. This happens when the sum of your adjusted gross income, non-taxable interest and half of your social security benefit exceeds $25,000 as an individual and $32, 000 as a married couple.

Retirees can choose to have their federal taxes cut from their social security payments. They can elect to have 7, 10, 12, or 22 percent of their benefits withheld for taxes using IRS form W-4V, but cannot choose a different percentage. ďƒ˜ Working after starting benefits: Beneficiaries who are younger than their full retirement age and continue to work after signing up for Social Security may have part of or all of their social security benefit temporarily withheld. Those who are younger than their full retirement age and earn more than $17,040 in 2018 will have $1 withheld for every $2 earned in excess of the earnings limit. This reduction formula applies every year until the year of your full retirement age when a different formula is applied. You will start making up the amount of reduction from your full retirement age onwards, and this make up will be spread out over the rest of your life expectancy. Once a person reaches full retirement age, there is no penalty for working after claiming benefits. Your benefits will be recalculated to give you credit for your withheld payments and continued earnings.

As a provider of medical review solutions to social security lawyers, we know how crucial it is for American workers to understand social security facts such as the above. In fact, social security lawyers can provide the necessary advice and direction regarding retiring early as well as the chances of getting disability benefits, and other such important details.

www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com

918-221-7791