If you’re one of the millions of people who depend on the disability benefits, they receive through Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance, you may have thought about working part-time. The extra money from a part-time job may be helpful, but you don’t want to jeopardize your disability benefits.
The team of disability professionals at Sackett Law Disability Lawyers understands your concern and the importance of knowing, “Will I lose my disability benefits?” This guide is designed to ensure you are fully informed about how working while receiving disability works when receiving benefits through SSI and SSDI.
Monthly Benefits Through SSI
SSI provides disability benefits to adults and children who are blind or otherwise disabled and to adults who are at least 65 years old with limited incomes and resources. For example, you cannot have resources or assets over $2,000. Couples eligible for SSI benefits can have resources provided they do not exceed $3,000 in value.
Income limits to qualify for SSI benefits differ in every state, so speak to a disability lawyer at Sackett Law for information about the amount of income you can have and still qualify for benefits through the program. If you are eligible for SSI, you can receive a maximum monthly federal benefit of $943 as an individual and $1,415 monthly as an eligible couple.
How Does Part-Time Work Affect Your SSI Benefits?
You can work part-time while receiving SSI benefits, but the money you earn during the month reduces the amount of your disability benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, it reduces your SSI monthly payment by about $1 for every $2 you earn from working.
There is a $1 reduction in your monthly payment for every $1 you receive as unearned income. Unearned income includes money received from a pension, SSDI, or unemployment benefits.
If your monthly income from working exceeds the income limits for SSI eligibility, Social Security will stop your monthly disability benefits. However, there is an expedited reinstatement process you can use to avoid going through the application process all over again, provided you meet the following criteria:
- The medical condition preventing you from working has not improved, so you continue to be disabled.
- Your request for expedited reinstatement must be made within five years from the date your monthly SSI payments stopped.
The benefit of using the expedited reinstatement process is that you need not file a new application for benefits.
Students with disabilities who are younger than age 22 and qualify for SSI benefits may work as long as they are in school or regularly attend a training program. A Student Earned-Income Exclusion excludes as much as $2,290 of a student’s monthly earnings up to an annual maximum of $9,230 in 2024 without affecting SSI eligibility or payment amount.
If you work while receiving SSI disability benefits, federal regulations allow you to exclude from countable income work-related expenses. For instance, you may exclude transportation costs for a taxi, paratransit, or a special bus if your disability prevents you from using public transportation.
Working While Receiving SSDI Benefits
You qualify for disability benefits through SSDI by working long enough at jobs and paying Social Security taxes on your earnings. The amount of your disability benefits payable each month through SSDI depends on your lifetime earnings, but the average monthly benefit payment in 2024 is $1,537, according to the Social Security Administration.
Social Security encourages people who receive SSDI benefits to attempt returning to work on a part-time basis with work incentives. A trial work period lets you work without a reduction in monthly disability benefits or risking eligibility for the SSDI program.
The trial work period is nine months and can be used over five years. Any month you earn more than $1,110 from working in 2024 counts as a trial work month, and you get to keep your wages without any reduction in your monthly SSDI payment.
At the end of the trial work period, you may continue working during a 36-month extended eligibility period. You get to keep your earnings as long as they do not exceed $1,550 during a month in 2024, which indicates you can do substantial gainful activity and are not disabled.
If your SSDI payments stop because of substantial earnings from work during the extended period of eligibility, you have five years to request reinstatement of benefits if your medical condition prevents you from working. You need not file a new application to have the benefits reinstated.
Learn More From Sackett Law
Sackett Law helps clients throughout the United States to fight for their Social Security disability benefits. If you want to work part-time, learn how to do it without risking your SSI and SSDI benefits from an experienced disability lawyer by contacting Sackett Law for a complimentary and informative consultation.
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