SSDI to retirement at FRA - do I need to do anything and will income limits still apply?
I've been receiving SSDI for about 7 years after a back injury that left me unable to continue my construction job. My Full Retirement Age (FRA) will be in March 2025, which is coming up pretty soon. I'm confused about what happens when I hit FRA - does my SSDI automatically convert to retirement benefits? Do I need to contact SSA or fill out any paperwork? Also, I've been doing some part-time bookkeeping work for my brother-in-law's small business (staying under the SSDI earnings limit). Once I hit FRA, will I still have income restrictions or can I work more hours without worrying about losing benefits? Any guidance from those who've been through this transition would be really appreciated!
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Carmen Diaz
Good news - you don't need to do anything! When you reach your Full Retirement Age, your SSDI benefits automatically convert to retirement benefits. The SSA handles this transition internally, and you'll receive the same monthly amount. You won't even notice a difference except the internal coding on SSA's end changes from disability to retirement. As for work limits, that's more good news. Once you reach FRA, the earnings test no longer applies to you. You can earn as much as you want without any reduction in your Social Security benefits. The only consideration would be potential taxation of your benefits if your combined income exceeds certain thresholds, but that's a tax issue, not a benefit reduction issue.
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Yuki Tanaka
•That's really helpful, thank you! I've been stressing about this for months. So I literally don't have to do anything at all? No forms or calls to SSA? And I can work unlimited hours starting in March? This is so much better than I thought!
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Andre Laurent
My husband went thru this last year and its true you dont have to do ANYTHING!! we were shocked how easy it was lol. The check stayed exactly the same amount too. He started working more hours at his job and nothing bad happened to his benefits. Its such a relief after all those years of watching every dollar he earned.
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Emily Jackson
•I went through this a few years back and while you don't technically need to do anything, I WOULD recommend checking your my Social Security account online a month after the transition to make sure everything processed correctly. Mine had a weird glitch where they coded something wrong and my payment was delayed by 3 weeks while they fixed it. Better to catch any issues early!
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Liam Mendez
ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS?? I called SSA when I hit retirement age after being on disability and the representative told me I had to come into the office to switch over!! I spent 4 hours waiting at my local office only to be told I didn't need to come in at all! The whole system is BROKEN and nobody there knows what they're talking about. I missed work for NOTHING and nearly lost my benefits because of their misinformation. I would call ahead just to verify - DON'T trust what people say online about this process!!!
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Carmen Diaz
•I'm sorry you had that experience. Unfortunately, some SSA representatives do provide incorrect information. The official SSA policy is that SSDI automatically converts to retirement benefits at FRA with no action required from the beneficiary. What likely happened is the rep confused your situation with someone who was filing for retirement for the first time, which does require an application.
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Sophia Nguyen
make sure u check that your Medicare premiums still get deducted right after the switch. my uncle's didn't and he almost lost his coverage cuz the bills went to an old address.
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Jacob Smithson
One thing nobody mentioned is that if you're on SSDI due to a work-related injury and receive Worker's Compensation, the offset that reduces your SSDI benefit stops when you reach FRA. This could potentially increase your monthly payment. Same applies if you receive certain public disability benefits that trigger the WEP or GPO provisions. Might be worth checking with SSA if any of these apply to your situation specifically!
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Yuki Tanaka
•That's interesting - my injury was work-related but I settled my worker's comp case years ago with a lump sum, so I don't think that applies to me. But good information for others reading this thread!
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Isabella Brown
I just went through this exact transition last November. You really don't need to do anything - it's automatic. But if you want peace of mind, I'd recommend calling SSA about a month before your FRA date just to confirm everything is set. The problem is getting through to someone at SSA is nearly impossible these days. After being disconnected 6 times over 3 days, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual SSA agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Once I got through, the agent confirmed everything was all set for my auto-conversion and also helped me understand how the earnings test would no longer apply. Definitely worth the time to confirm everything is in order.
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Yuki Tanaka
•I've never heard of that service before. Did it actually work well? I've tried calling SSA about other issues in the past and always get disconnected or end up on hold for hours.
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Isabella Brown
•Yes, it actually worked surprisingly well. I was skeptical too, but after wasting hours trying to get through on my own, I was connected to an SSA agent in minutes. The agent confirmed my SSDI-to-retirement transition was all set in their system and would happen automatically in November. Gave me peace of mind for sure.
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Andre Laurent
wait im confused... isnt SSI different from SSDI? my cousin is on SSI and she still has income limits even tho shes over 70??
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Carmen Diaz
•Yes, SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) are completely different programs. SSI is needs-based and always has income and resource limits regardless of age. SSDI is based on your work credits and converts to retirement benefits at FRA, at which point the earnings limits no longer apply. Your cousin being on SSI at age 70 would still have income and asset restrictions since that's a fundamental requirement of the SSI program.
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Emily Jackson
Something else to consider - once you reach FRA and no longer have earnings restrictions, it might be worth looking into whether you should adjust your tax withholding. If you're planning to earn significantly more than you did while on SSDI, you might need to have taxes withheld from your Social Security payment or make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid a surprise tax bill. You can request voluntary withholding by submitting Form W-4V to Social Security.
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Yuki Tanaka
Thank you all for the helpful information! Just to summarize what I've learned: 1. SSDI will automatically convert to retirement benefits when I reach FRA in March 2025 2. I don't need to complete any paperwork or contact SSA for this to happen 3. The earnings limits will completely go away once I hit FRA 4. I should check my Medicare premium deductions continue correctly 5. I might want to adjust tax withholding if I plan to earn significantly more This is such a relief! I've been so anxious about this transition and worried I'd mess something up. I think I will try to contact SSA about a month before just to confirm everything is on track. Thanks again everyone!
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