Social Security benefit not increased despite higher 2024 earnings - AIME recalculation confusion

The automatic recomputations due to additional earnings typically happen once a year after your tax returns are processed. While some people may get adjustments now, yours might be processed later - the SSA does these in batches throughout the year. Your reconsideration filing might actually be slowing things down since they might be holding off on the automatic process while reviewing your manual request. Make sure you understand how the AIME calculation works - only your highest 35 years of indexed earnings count. If you already had 35 strong years, a new good year might not bump out a significant lower year. Also, the benefit formula is weighted, so additional earnings don't always translate to substantial benefit increases.

i got one of those payments last week!! $142 extra and letter came few days later explaining it was cuz my 2024 work replaced a year from 1989 lol. didnt have to do anything it just showed up

I've been dealing with EXACT SAME ISSUE since February!! Filed reconsideration because my 2024 earnings ($68,000) should have replaced a ZERO earnings year but got NOTHING!! Called SSA six times and every time they just say "it's being processed" or "you need to wait longer"! One agent even told me the computer does it automatically and there's no way to request manual review which CONTRADICTS what another agent told me!!! So frustrating!!! I finally got through to a supervisor last week who said my case was "flagged for review" whatever that means. Still waiting...

I worked for SSA for 28 years before retiring. Here's what's happening: The automatic earnings recomputations (ARF - Automatic Recomputation of Benefits) are done in batches throughout the year. They run these after tax data is received from IRS, which happens at different times for different people. For your reconsideration: After filing, it typically takes 3-6 months for review. COVID backlogs have made this worse. What likely happened is your case got assigned to a Claims Specialist who needs to manually review your earnings record. They'll need to determine which years count in your highest 35, then recalculate your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount). If your 2024 earnings replaced a significantly lower year, you should see an adjustment eventually. But remember that due to indexing factors, sometimes newer earnings don't have as much impact as you might expect. The years are indexed for inflation, so older lower nominal earnings might actually be higher when indexed than recent higher earnings. I'd recommend waiting until the 6-month mark before taking additional action.

I had this exact problem last year! What I found out was that my highest earning year ($78k) didn't actually increase my benefit much because when they did the indexing for inflation, some of my earnings from the early 2000s actually counted for MORE after indexing than my recent years despite the dollar amount being lower. It's confusing! Do you know if your recent earnings are actually higher than your indexed earlier earnings?

When I was having trouble getting through to SSA about my recalculation issue, I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) and it saved me hours of frustration. They got me connected to an actual SSA agent in about 20 minutes instead of the usual endless hold times. The agent was able to see that my recalculation was actually pending but had been assigned to the wrong office. If you want to see how it works, there's a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. Definitely worth it to actually get answers instead of just waiting and wondering.

Did you check if you maxed out your earnings for Social Security tax purposes? I think the max taxable earnings for 2024 was around $168k. If you were already near the maximum in your previous calculation years, adding another year at or near the max might not change your benefit much.

maybe check ur mail again? i almost threw away my letter cuz it looked like junk mail lol

One more thing to consider - if you've already started receiving benefits, the recomputation formula includes a reduction. The increase is calculated by subtracting your original PIA from your recalculated PIA, then reducing that difference based on the number of months you've been receiving benefits before the recalculation. So if your AIME increase would have resulted in a modest benefit increase (say $30/month), after the reduction it might be a very small amount - potentially just a few dollars that you might not have noticed in your monthly deposit.

If you're still concerned, I'd recommend printing out your complete earnings record from your my Social Security account and doing a manual calculation (or at least identifying your lowest 2-3 years that would be replaced). The SSA has calculators online that can help you estimate how much difference the new earnings would make. That way when you do speak with someone, you'll have specific information to discuss rather than just a general concern.

I'm in a similar boat but from a different angle - I've been getting disability benefits for 5 years and worked part-time in 2024 earning about $15,000 (under SGA limits). I'm wondering if those earnings would trigger any kind of recalculation for my disability benefits or if the automatic recomputation process only applies to retirement benefits? I haven't seen any adjustment deposits and my benefit amount hasn't changed. Does anyone know if disability beneficiaries get the same automatic earnings recalculations that retirement beneficiaries do?

I went through something very similar last year and it took almost 8 months to get resolved! What I learned is that the reconsideration process can actually interfere with the automatic recomputation system. When you file a reconsideration, it essentially puts a "hold" on your record while they manually review everything, which prevents the automated system from running its normal calculations. In my case, I had to be really persistent. After 5 months of waiting, I called and specifically asked them to expedite the reconsideration since it was blocking the automatic process that should have happened months earlier. The agent told me they could either withdraw my reconsideration request and let the automatic system run, or continue with the manual review. I chose to stick with the manual review since I was already halfway through the process. One tip: when you do call back, ask specifically about the "ARF flag" on your account - that's the automatic recomputation flag. If it's been disabled due to your reconsideration, you'll want to know that. Also, document every call with dates, agent names, and what they told you. It really helps when you need to escalate or reference previous conversations.