Social Security earnings limit applies to spouse collecting benefits or me still working?

The earnings limit only applies to the person collecting Social Security benefits. Your wife needs to stay under the 2025 earnings limit (likely around $22,320 for someone under Full Retirement Age), but your earnings don't count toward her limit. You can earn as much as you want without affecting her benefits. The only time your income might affect her is if you file taxes jointly and your combined income pushes her into the range where Social Security benefits become taxable. That's separate from the earnings limit though.

my sister went thru this same thing last yr. only HER income counted for the limit not her husbands. but they did end up owing more taxes because of there combined income. social securty is so confusing!!

The earnings limit is based on gross wages before taxes and deductions. For 2025, if your wife is under FRA the whole year, she can earn approximately $22,320 without reduction (they adjust it annually with inflation). Benefits are reduced by $1 for every $2 earned above the limit. Regarding taxation: for joint filers, if your combined income (adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + half of SS benefits) exceeds $32,000, up to 50% of benefits may be taxable. Above $44,000, up to 85% may be taxable. So while your income doesn't affect her earnings limit, it does factor into whether her benefits are taxable.

The SSA system is COMPLETELY BROKEN when it comes to this stuff!!! I had to call them SEVEN TIMES last year because they incorrectly applied my husband's income to my earnings limit and reduced my benefits by $4,600!!! It took MONTHS to fix and they still haven't paid me the full amount they owe me. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING and double-check your wife's payments carefully!!

one other thing to no is that when you claim ur own benefits later they look at YOUR income not both of yours. my husband got confused about this part. each person has there own earnings record that social security looks at.

To answer your question about her benefit amount: Yes, her benefit is permanently reduced because she started at 63. The reduction is approximately 20% less than her full retirement age benefit. This reduction doesn't change when she reaches full retirement age. However, she will receive annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), which typically range from 1-3% depending on inflation. And if her part-time work ends up being higher-earning than some of the years included in her benefit calculation, she might see a small increase due to recalculation.

My neighbor told me that if you make too much money they'll take your wife's whole benefit away!! Is that true? This is making me worried about my situation too.

Something nobody's mentioned yet: when your wife reaches her Full Retirement Age, SSA will actually recalculate her benefit to give credit for the months when benefits were withheld due to excess earnings. So if she does end up having some benefits withheld, she'll eventually get some of that back through a higher monthly benefit amount after FRA.