Chapter 9: The Earnings Test
The worksheets from Chapter 9 of Fifty-Five. Type your own numbers, or try an example from the book to see how each one works.
How much will be held back
How much of your Social Security will be held back for a year of work before full retirement age, and how many checks that means.
The formula: Your earnings − The limit = Amount over the limit. Amount over ÷ 2 = Benefits held back (if you are under full retirement age all year). Use ÷ 3 instead in the year you reach full retirement age. Benefits held back ÷ Your monthly benefit = Number of checks held back. Round up to a whole check.
The calculator needs JavaScript. The paper worksheet below does not: it is the same arithmetic, written out.
The paper worksheet
Your work earnings $__________ − The limit $__________ = Amount over $__________
Amount over $__________ ÷ ____ (2 or 3) = Held back $__________
Held back $__________ ÷ Monthly benefit $__________ = ______ checks (round up)
Walk through it, step by step
- Add up only your wages and net self-employment income for the year. Leave out pensions, withdrawals, interest and dividends. Write it on the first blank.
- Find your limit in the table in the chapter. Use the first row if you will be under full retirement age all year. Use the second row if you reach full retirement age this year, and count only earnings before that month.
- Subtract the limit from your earnings. If the answer is zero or less, stop. Nothing is held back.
- Divide what is over by 2 (first row) or 3 (second row). That is how much will be held back.
- Divide that by your monthly benefit. Round up to a whole number. That is about how many checks to expect to miss, usually starting in January.
Check your answer
- Multiply your "held back" number by 2 (or 3) and add the limit. You should get back your earnings. For Sandy: $7,760 × 2 + $24,480 = $40,000. It matches.
- If your earnings are under the limit, your answer must be $0.
Figures this worksheet uses, and where they come from: Earnings test limit for 2026, under full retirement age all year: $24,480 (SSA, 2027 Social Security Changes fact sheet); Earnings test limit for 2026, the year you reach full retirement age: $65,160 (the 2027 limit is $67,920) (SSA, 2027 Social Security Changes fact sheet); $1 held back for every $2 over the limit, or every $3 in the year you reach full retirement age (SSA, Receiving Benefits While Working).
The check you get back at full retirement age
How Social Security credits you at full retirement age for the months it held back.
The formula: Months early when you claimed − Months benefits were held back = Months early that still count. Then use the Chapter 8 worksheet to find your new reduction.
The calculator needs JavaScript. The paper worksheet below does not: it is the same arithmetic, written out.
The paper worksheet
Months early when you claimed ______ − Months held back ______ = Months that still count ______
Then use the Chapter 8 worksheet with that number.
Walk through it, step by step
- Write how many months early you claimed (60 if you claimed at 62 and your full retirement age is 67).
- Count every month a check was fully held back. Your annual Social Security statements and notices show them.
- Subtract. Use the result in the Chapter 8 worksheet to find your new reduction.
- Multiply your full-retirement-age benefit by what is left after the new reduction.
Check your answer
- Your new check must be bigger than your old one, and smaller than your full-retirement-age benefit. If it is not, check your subtraction.
- Social Security makes this adjustment automatically when you reach full retirement age. You do not have to apply for it.
Figures this worksheet uses, and where they come from: Reduction for claiming early: 5/9 of 1% for each of the first 36 months, 5/12 of 1% for each month beyond 36 (SSA, Starting Your Retirement Benefits Early); At full retirement age the benefit is refigured to credit the months benefits were held back (SSA, Receiving Benefits While Working).