Just to clarify a few points: 1. If you choose to withdraw your application (Form SSA-521), you must repay the full amount you received - there's no payment plan option for this. The repayment must be made in full. 2. If you choose to keep your application active but return to work: - Report your employment to SSA right away - If you're under Full Retirement Age and earn above $21,240 (2025 limit), benefits will be adjusted automatically - You may have months where you receive no payment due to high earnings - At Full Retirement Age, your benefit will be recalculated to give you credit for months benefits were withheld 3. For Medicare: If you withdraw your application, you'll need to decide whether to keep Medicare and pay premiums directly. If you have other health insurance through your new employer, you might consider whether to keep Part B.

Congratulations on the job offer! One important thing to add - if you decide to keep your Social Security active and let the earnings reduction happen naturally, make sure to report your new job to SSA as soon as possible. You can do this online through your my Social Security account or by calling them. If you don't report it promptly and SSA finds out later (which they will when you file taxes), they may create an overpayment that you'll have to repay anyway. It's much better to be proactive about it. Also, keep detailed records of your earnings and any correspondence with SSA. This will help if there are any discrepancies later when they do the annual earnings reconciliation. Good luck with your new job - it sounds like going back to work is the right choice for you at 63!

As someone new to receiving Social Security benefits, this thread has been incredibly helpful! I just started getting my retirement payments a few months ago and wasn't sure how holidays would affect the schedule. Based on what everyone is saying, it sounds like the key is to prepare for potential banking delays rather than SSA delays. I'm definitely going to contact my credit union this week to ask about their holiday processing timeline. It's reassuring to know that the payment will still come on December 24th - I was worried it might get pushed all the way to after New Year's!

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who's been getting Social Security for about 15 years now. The December payment situation has come up several times, and here's what I've learned: The SSA is actually pretty reliable about getting payments out on schedule, even around holidays. The real wildcard is always your bank or credit union. What I do now is check my account balance online the evening before my expected payment date, then again first thing in the morning. If it's not there by noon on the payment day, I call my bank directly rather than SSA. Nine times out of ten, it's just a processing delay on the bank's end. Also, if you're really concerned about December 24th, you might consider switching to paper checks just for that month - you can change it back to direct deposit afterward. The paper check usually arrives a day or two before the electronic deposit would hit anyway.

Thank you all SO MUCH for this helpful information. I feel much better about her trying to work now. I'm going to help her look into Ticket to Work and make sure we document everything carefully. It sounds like a part-time minimum wage job should be safe as long as we stay under that SGA amount and report everything promptly. It would mean so much for her self-esteem to have even a small real job after everything she's been through.

I'm so glad you're feeling more confident about this! Your daughter is lucky to have such a supportive parent helping her navigate these complex rules. One small thing I'd add - when she does start working, it might be helpful to set up a simple spreadsheet or notebook to track her monthly earnings alongside all the documentation everyone mentioned. That way you can easily see if she's approaching any limits and have everything organized if SSA ever requests information. The fact that she's already volunteering and building confidence shows she's ready for this next step. Wishing her all the best with finding the right part-time opportunity!

This is such valuable information! As someone who's been trying to understand these rules for months, I really appreciate everyone breaking this down so clearly. I had the same misconception about spousal benefits including delayed retirement credits - seems like that's a pretty common misunderstanding. One thing I'm still wondering about - if the original poster continues working and earning delayed retirement credits, does that impact the timing of when her husband should claim spousal benefits? Like, is there any advantage to waiting until she actually files her own claim, or should he go ahead and file now since the spousal benefit calculation won't change regardless of when she claims? Also want to echo what others said about the Claimyr service - I used it last month to get through to SSA about my mom's Medicare questions and it was a lifesaver. Worth the small fee to avoid the endless hold times and busy signals.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation where my wife is considering delaying her benefits to maximize delayed retirement credits. After reading all these responses, I now understand that I should file for spousal benefits as soon as she files (even if she suspends her payments to continue earning credits), since my spousal benefit won't increase beyond the 50% of her FRA amount regardless. One question I haven't seen addressed - when filing for spousal benefits, does the SSA automatically compare your own retirement benefit to the spousal benefit and give you whichever is higher? Or do you need to specifically request that comparison? I want to make sure I don't accidentally leave money on the table by not asking for the right thing during my appointment. Also, thanks to everyone who mentioned Claimyr - I've been dreading trying to get through to SSA but that sounds like it could save a lot of headaches!

does anyone know if they give back this money they take? or is it just gone forever?

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm 63 and considering taking early retirement benefits while doing some consulting work, but after reading all of this I'm realizing I need to be much more careful about the earnings limit than I thought. The fact that they take full months instead of partial amounts is a huge detail that's not well communicated. Does anyone know if there's a good resource or calculator that can help estimate how many months of benefits would be withheld based on expected earnings? I want to make sure I understand the real impact before I make this decision.