The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) limit to determine if your income is too high for you to qualify for SSDI. For 2024, the SGA limit is $1,470 per month for non-blind individuals and $2,460 per month for blind individuals.
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)
The SGA amount for persons with disabilities other than blindness is $1,550 per month in 2024. For persons who are blind, the amount of earnings that indicate SGA is $2,590 per month in 2024. Further information is available in the section How We Decide If You Are Disabled.
Social Security Disability Insurance
This means you will not be taxed on your benefits until your income reaches $25,000 or $32,000 based on your filing status. You can opt into tax deductions in order to reduce the amount you owe on your yearly tax return.
Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.
The so-called “five-year rule” for Social Security disability allows people who have already received disability benefits to skip a required waiting period in the re-application process after they've returned to work.
Exactly how much in earnings do you need to get a $3,000 benefit? Well, you just need to have averaged about 70% of the taxable maximum. In our example case, that means that your earnings in 1983 were about $22,000 and increased every year to where they ended at about $100,000 at age 62.
If your only income is social security disability benefits, it's unlikely that you will owe the IRS anything at the end of the year or need to file a return. Clearly, if you don't file, you also won't earn a refund check. But, this is only if your sole income is the benefits.
You can earn up to $2,700 a month in 2025 before your earnings may affect your benefits. If you earn too much to receive disability benefits, you're still eligible for a disability “freeze.”
At what age is Social Security no longer taxable? Social Security income can be taxable no matter how old you are. It all depends on whether your total combined income exceeds a certain level set for your filing status. You may have heard that Social Security income is not taxed after age 70; this is false.
The good news is that when you receive SSI, you are always better off when you work! When you work, your monthly SSI check may slowly get smaller as you earn more money. Social Security DOES NOT decrease your SSI check dollar-for-dollar by what you earn. Social Security counts less than half of what you earn!
The termination of benefits in the Social Security disability program is based predominantly on four factors: conversion to the retirement program (that is, attainment of full retirement age), death, medical recovery, and work recovery.
In general, how many hours you work while on SSDI does not matter too much. For most employed people, the SSA will look at your monthly income instead.
Your Ability to Work and The Disability Approval Process
The SSA uses a five-step sequential process to determine if a person is disabled: If you are working while applying for disability, you cannot earn more than an average of $1,470 (in 2023) per month (known as substantial gainful employment).
If you're on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), you're in the clear—lottery winnings don't impact your benefits since SSDI is based on your work history, not financial need. You'll still need to report the winnings, but they won't affect your payments.
In 2024, the maximum SSDI benefit is $3,822 per month. Most veterans receive less than this amount, however. The average SSDI benefit for veterans under 62 is $1,512 per month. Your specific benefit depends on how much you've paid into Social Security over your working years.
Receiving SSI and SSDI while working
But the benefit amount you receive may be reduced depending on how much money you earn from your job. As of 2024, you may stop receiving SSDI benefits if you earn over $1,550 a month. But your eligibility to receive SSI while working will depend on which state you live in.
Unearned income (such as income from a spouse) and assets do not count towards the limit for SSDI. If you're also applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), those forms of income will count.
Generally, the maximum Federal SSI benefit amount changes yearly. SSI benefits increased in 2024 because there was an increase in the Consumer Price Index from the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023. Effective January 1, 2024 the Federal benefit rate is $943 for an individual and $1,415 for a couple.
If you get disability payments, your payments may qualify as earned income when you claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Disability payments qualify as earned income depending on: The type of disability payments you get: Disability retirement benefits.
The bad news is, if you are disabled and owe back taxes, the IRS can garnish 15% of your monthly SSDI payments to pay back the debt owed to them. However, the good news is you won't see your payments lower all of a sudden. The IRS will issue several letters before garnishment.
If your spouse dies, do you get both Social Security benefits? You cannot claim your deceased spouse's benefits in addition to your own retirement benefits. Social Security only will pay one—survivor or retirement. If you qualify for both survivor and retirement benefits, you will receive whichever amount is higher.
How do you survive on so little disability income? You might supplement your SSDI benefits by working a little—if you can. But not everyone can. Fortunately, there are other benefits you might be entitled to receive that can help you meet your expenses, including additional Social Security benefits.
How do you get $144 added back to your Social Security check every month? If you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan with a Part B giveback benefit, the plan reduces the amount deducted from your Social Security check for Medicare Part B, which could add up to $144 back to your check each month.