Social Security backdating at age 70 - June or July filing confusion?

When you turn 70, you can't actually backdate to just any date you want. The SSA allows backdating for up to 6 months when you're past your Full Retirement Age (FRA). Since you'll be turning 70 in June 2025, the furthest back you could go would be December 2024, not all the way to June/July 2024. When you file, you'll get benefits effective with the month you specify, but remember benefits are paid the month after they're due. So if you backdate to December 2024, that payment would arrive in January 2025 (and you'd get all backdated amounts in a lump sum).

i turned 70 last year and let me tell u i thought the same thing!! but what happened was they only let me go back 6 months when i applied. wish someone told me before i waited so long lol

There's a critical misunderstanding here. Social Security's 6-month backdating limit is indeed correct, but there's another important factor: delayed retirement credits stop accruing at age 70. If you turn 70 in June 2025 and apply then, you should request a start date of January 2025 (effectively December 2024, since your first payment would be for January 2025). This gives you your maximum possible benefit. The real issue is that if you wait until June 2025 to apply, you'd potentially lose payments from January-June 2025 if you don't specifically request backdating. You don't permanently lose your maximum benefit calculation - you just might miss out on months of payments if you don't handle the application correctly.

Actually that's not quite right either. Let me clarify the correct information: 1. Delayed retirement credits stop accruing the month you turn 70 2. You can backdate your application up to 6 months (but not beyond the month you reached full retirement age) 3. If you turn 70 in June 2025, your benefit amount stops growing after May 2025 4. When you apply, you should specify June 2025 as your start month unless you want to sacrifice some of your maximum benefit by starting earlier The confusion might be about payment timing - you apply in June, request June as your start month, but the actual payment for June arrives in July 2025.

I went thru this EXACT situation last year!!!! The SSA agent I talked to was SOOOO confusing about it all. I turned 70 and didn't apply right away (big mistake). Then when I did apply they said I could only get 6 months of back pay. I WAS FURIOUS!!! They should tell people this stuff BEFORE we lose benefits!!!

My sister had such a mess with her application last year trying to backdate. She couldn't reach anyone at Social Security for weeks. She finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent right away. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU showing how it works. Saved her so much frustration when she needed to sort out her backdating issue.

To clarify the whole backdating situation once and for all: 1. Delayed retirement credits max out at age 70 2. If you apply AT age 70, you simply select your 70th birthday month as your start date 3. If you apply AFTER turning 70, you should backdate to the month you turned 70 4. The 6-month backdating limit means if you wait more than 6 months after turning 70, you'll permanently lose some benefits For the original poster turning 70 in June 2025: - If applying in June 2025: select June 2025 as start month - If applying July-December 2025: backdate to June 2025 - If applying January 2026 or later: backdate as far as you can (likely only able to go back 6 months), but you'll lose some payments Does that help clear things up?

my uncle said he got a YEAR of back pay when he filed at 70 not just 6 months. i think it depends on the office or maybe the rules changed???

One final tip: when you do apply in June 2025, apply early in the month rather than waiting until the end. This gives SSA time to process your application so your payments start without delay. Benefits are paid the month after they're due, so your June benefit would arrive in July. And make sure to set up direct deposit during your application to speed things up.