Can I restart SS benefits before age 70 after suspending at FRA? Dealing with tax torpedo from investment properties

Thank you for clarifying! That's a relief. So if I suspend for just 6-8 months while selling a couple properties, I can restart after that with a slightly higher benefit? And yes, good point about Medicare - I'll have to handle those premiums separately.

Yes, I'm certain. The official SSA rules state that you can request reinstatement at any time after suspending benefits at FRA. Your brother-in-law might have received incorrect information from representatives who confused suspension with withdrawal (which has different rules). Unfortunately, not all SSA phone reps are equally knowledgeable about every regulation.

That's really reassuring to hear from someone who's actually done this! Did they make it complicated to restart or was it pretty straightforward?

Super easy. One phone call, about 15 minutes with the rep. They verified my identity, I told them I wanted to reinstate, and that was basically it. They did send a confirmation letter about a week later.

Those are excellent suggestions. I hadn't considered a 1031 exchange, but that might work for at least one of the properties. I'm definitely planning to spread the sales across 2025-2026 for exactly the reason you mentioned. I'll talk to my CPA about the modeling different scenarios - that makes a lot of sense.

I had the same horrible experience trying to reach SSA until someone told me about Claimyr. It's a service that waits on hold with Social Security for you, then calls you when an agent is on the line. I was skeptical but tried it when I needed to discuss my benefit suspension, and it worked perfectly - saved me hours of frustration. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU or go to claimyr.com. Totally worth it when you need to actually speak with someone at SSA about something important like benefit suspension/reinstatement.

Not exactly. When you suspend benefits after reaching Full Retirement Age, you don't get those monthly payments during the suspension period, but your benefit amount permanently increases by 8% per year (or 2/3% per month) for the time you're suspended. So while you forgo those immediate payments, you get a higher monthly amount for the rest of your life once you restart. For example, if someone with a $2,500 monthly benefit suspends for 12 months, they'd miss out on $30,000 in payments that year but would receive an additional $200/month for life when they restart. The break-even point would be 150 months (12.5 years).

Good point! I do take advantage of QBI, but even with that, the combination of rental income, required minimum distributions from my IRAs, and Social Security is creating a perfect storm tax-wise. I think simplifying by selling some properties is the right move at my age (68).

They're different things: 1. Delaying application: This is when you haven't started benefits yet and simply wait to apply (anytime from age 62 to 70). 2. Suspending benefits: This is when you've ALREADY started receiving benefits (after reaching Full Retirement Age), then request to pause them temporarily. You can only suspend after you've reached your FRA, and you can restart anytime between then and age 70. The OP has already started benefits at their FRA and now wants to temporarily pause them while selling properties to avoid tax issues.