5 ways you can lose your Social Security benefits

Written by

Edited by

Erin Kennedy

Published on August 23, 2024 | 4 min read

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All qualifying Americans are entitled to Social Security, but in some cases you can actually lose your Social Security benefits. While these situations are uncommon, you may still accidentally trigger one, and you could have to scramble to make things right to get your benefits again.

Here are five ways you can lose your Social Security benefits and what to watch out for.

How can you lose your Social Security benefits?

Some 72 million Americans receive Social Security in some form, whether that’s retirement benefits, spousal benefits and survivors benefits, or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) that help the disabled and the poor, respectively. (Here’s the average Social Security payout for each and how much you could expect to earn.)

But the program has rules in place to govern how participants can increase their benefits, as well as how their benefits may be suspended or even stripped entirely if they run afoul of the rules. In fact, some retirees use the rules to purposely suspend their benefits to get a higher payout.

If there’s a silver lining to the suspension rules, it’s that in some cases, you won’t permanently lose your Social Security. But you may need to take steps to reinstate your payouts, if possible.

1. You are incarcerated

If you’re convicted of a crime and sentenced to a prison or jail term of more than 30 consecutive days, your Social Security will be suspended. However, benefits to a spouse or children will continue as long as they’re eligible. Benefits can be reinstated the month following your release.

If you’re receiving SSI, those benefits will also be suspended while incarcerated. This payment can begin in the month you’re released. However, if you’re incarcerated for 12 straight months or more, your eligibility for SSI payments will be terminated and you’ll need to file again on release.

2. You receive disability payments and return to work

The Social Security Administration can terminate disability benefits if the recipient returns to work and earns enough to meet what officials call “substantial gainful activity.” For 2024, that level of monthly earnings is normally $1,550, while for the blind it’s $2,590.

If officials determine that the recipient no longer meets the qualifications for disability payments due to work, payments cease in the month indicated by the evidence. The recipient is entitled to a payout in the month when the benefit is terminated and the two subsequent months.

However, if your earnings fall, you may be entitled to restart disability payments. Plus, recipients may also be able to participate in a trial work period without immediately losing their benefits.

3. You receive disability payments and your condition improves

Disability payments can also be terminated if the underlying medical condition improves. If officials find that the medical condition improves and no longer entitles a person to disability benefits, the decision is effective in the month indicated by the evidence or the month that the recipient is provided written notice, whichever is later.

If payments are stopped, the recipient is entitled to a payout in the month when the benefit is terminated and the two subsequent months.

However, your disability payments may continue if the condition improves and the recipient is enrolled in a program of vocational rehabilitation or similar.

4. You work during early retirement

If you file for Social Security benefits early, you’ll receive only a portion of your full retirement benefit — as little as 70 percent of it, depending on when you file. Social Security also has deterrents in place to keep you from filing early and then returning to work. Earning too much at a job can reduce and perhaps completely eliminate your Social Security benefit.

Here’s how Social Security penalizes early filers if they earn too much:

If you’re younger than full retirement age for all of 2024, $1 of your monthly Social Security check is deducted for every $2 you earn above $22,320 per year.
If you reach full retirement age in 2024, $1 of your monthly check is deducted for every $3 you earn above $59,520 until the month you reach retirement age.

If you earn too much, your Social Security benefit could be completely wiped out. Plus, you’ll continue to pay Social Security and Medicare tax on your earnings, too.

This situation resolves itself once you hit full retirement age. At that time, your benefit will increase to account for any benefit that was withheld earlier due to working.

5. You remarry

If you’re unmarried, age 62 or older and divorced from someone eligible for Social Security or disability benefits who you were married to for at least 10 years, you may claim benefits on your ex-spouse’s record. However, you’ll lose those ex-spousal benefits if you remarry.

You won’t necessarily lose ex-spousal benefits permanently. If your subsequent marriage ends by divorce, death or annulment, you can collect benefits on your ex-spouse’s record again.

Of course, if you’re eligible to claim Social Security benefits on your own account, remarrying won’t affect those benefits. But Social Security will pay only the higher of benefits claimed on your own account or those you’re entitled to on an ex-spouse’s account, not both.

Bottom line

It’s important to understand how you may accidentally lose your Social Security benefits so that you can steer clear of those situations, or at least make an informed decision. You can estimate your potential future benefits by using Bankrate’s Social Security calculator.