You mistakenly filed early for Social Security - AMAC Foundation
You realized that claiming your Social Security benefits before your full retirement age was a mistake. But you do have options to correct that mistake, so let’s look at your options.
Withdrawing your application
You can withdraw your application within the first year of receiving benefits. This is referred to as the “do-over option.” Note you can only cancel your application once and can reapply later. You will need to repay the money you and your family received, as well as any premiums, taxes, and garnishments that were withheld from your benefit check. This, in effect, wipes the slate clean, and when you file for your benefits at a later date, it will be like you never filed.
If this sounds like a good option, please call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213. When speaking with the representative, advise them that you made a mistake and wish to withdraw your application. They may have you fill out the form SSA-521 (Request for Withdrawal of Application).
What if you cannot pay back the money?
If you are still working and under your full retirement age, you should contact Social Security to let them know if you will be over the earnings limit, Social Security will stop your benefits so you can avoid being overpaid. Social Security is required to adjust your benefits to recover the overpayment.
You can pause your benefit
Once you reach Full Retirement Age, you can pause your benefit payments. The pause will increase future payments by up to 8 percent per year, plus COLA. No, you can restart your benefit whenever you would like, or Social Security will automatically restart your benefit at age 70.
You will not receive payments while your benefits are paused. Also, neither will any family member who receives benefits based on your record. You will need to pay your Medicare premiums to keep your coverage.
So, if you find yourself thinking that you made a mistake in claiming your Social Security benefits early, remember you do have options.
Need help with your questions on Social Security connect with our advisors at https://socialsecurityreport.org/about/social-security-advisory-service/. Email ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org
But if you withdraw your request…how long before they act on it, and “the slate is clean”?
Robert:
Once SSA has received a request for withdrawal of a retirement claim, the field office must gather up all information from your payment record and must meet the within 12 months of entitlement requirements. If an SSA field office receives a withdrawal request after 12 months of the first month you were paid for, the request will be denied. The field office must make certain that if there are other individuals on record also receiving benefits, such as a spouse and children, those people will also have to agree with the withdrawal as they will also have to return all the funds paid them. This all takes time gathering all the proper material and authorizing signatures.
Once the field office is satisfied with your request and they have properly suspended all benefits on record, the information is forwarded to the proper payment center for processing the complete withdrawal. The payment center must look at whether Medicare was involved and if so, notify them as well since health coverage could be forfeited if you must pay back anything that was already covered by Medicare, hospitals/doctors, etc. Only after the payment center is completely satisfied that all information regarding payments has been calculated would you receive a letter from SSA detailing how much must be reimbursed to them. They allow up to 45 days for reimbursement and then once the Treasury Department has processed the credit is your retirement record wiped clean as though you had never applied.
So, the bottom line is SSA does not provide a time frame for this entire process to be completed. It’s not unusual for a withdrawal to take up to 6 months for completion.
I hope this answers your questions and provides some valuable guidance. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again by email or call our office at 1-888-750-2622 during our business hours of Monday-Friday, 9 AM- 5 PM.
Ken Baron, Social Security Advisor
The AMAC Foundation
http://www.amacfoundation.org
(888) 750-2622
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The person that advised me at my local social security office did not advise me clearly and I applied 5 months before my full retirement age. Now I am not sure whether this was a big mistake since I see that the difference in the monthly payments is about 40 $ per month and this could be a significant amount in a year.
Yolanda,
FYI, if you applied for Social Security less than one year ago, you still have the option to withdraw your application for SS benefits and let those benefits continue to grow. Only thing is, you would need to repay SS everything you have already been paid to “wipe the slate clean.” Also, if you have now reached your full retirement age, you have the ability to temporarily suspend your monthly SS payments and earn Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs) to increase your monthly payment when you later “un-suspend” your SS payments. For each month your benefits are suspended, you will get about 2/3rds of 1% higher benefit when you re-start your monthly payments. Also, if you continue to work after starting your benefits, SS will review your earnings each year to see if you are entitled to more because you have recent earnings.
So, there are ways you can increase your benefits, if you take advantage of any of these options. I hope this helps, and if you have further questions, please feel free to contact us at SSAdvisor@amacfoundation.org or call us at 1.888.750.2622.
Regards,
Russell Gloor
Certified Social Security Advisor
The AMAC Foundation