Social Security earnings limit confusion - can husband work more after W-2 shows only $15,000 in SS wages?

The difference between the boxes on the W-2 is likely due to pre-tax deductions like health insurance, HSA contributions, or retirement plan contributions. These reduce the amount of wages subject to Social Security tax. For the 2025 earnings limit (which is $22,320 for someone under FRA all year), Social Security looks at your GROSS earnings before these deductions. So unfortunately, you need to count all his earnings, not just the amount in the Social Security wages box. If he's turning 64 this year, remember the limit is higher in the year he reaches Full Retirement Age, and disappears completely once he hits FRA.

my wife had same problem.. we thot she was under but she went over by like $1100 and we got hit with a $550 reduction later on. its a total pain!! nobody explains this stuff right

What's confusing is that there are pre-tax deductions that affect your Social Security wages box on the W-2, but the earnings test uses your gross earnings BEFORE most of those deductions. You need to look at Box 1 (wages/tips) as your starting point, then add back any pre-tax retirement contributions like 401k or 403b since those don't count as reductions for the earnings test even though they reduce your taxable wages. Also, if your husband is turning 64 in 2025, the monthly rule might apply in the months after he reaches FRA where the limit is much higher ($59,520 in 2025) and only applies in the months before reaching FRA.

I had the EXACT same confusion last year with my husband's earnings. We ended up calling Social Security directly to get a clear answer because different people online were giving us different advice. The problem was we spent THREE DAYS trying to get through to someone! We finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got us connected to an SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed we needed to count gross earnings (not the SS wages box) for the earnings test. She also explained that if we went over, they'd send a notice before making any adjustments so we'd have time to plan for it. Worth the call for peace of mind!

My sister works at H&R Block and she always tells clients to track their GROSS income for SS purposes, not what's in the SS wages box. Something about certain deductions don't count for the earnings test even if they reduce your SS wages. Good luck!!

Just adding that if you DO go over the limit, SSA doesn't just suddenly stop sending checks without warning. They'll send you a notice first explaining the adjustment. And remember they withhold FULL benefit checks to recover the overpayment, not just partial amounts. So if you went over by $3000, that would be a $1500 withholding (since it's $1 for every $2), and they might withhold 1-2 full monthly checks depending on his benefit amount.

One more important thing - when your husband reaches Full Retirement Age, Social Security will recalculate his benefit amount to give credit for the months they withheld benefits due to excess earnings. So even though it feels like a penalty now, he does eventually get some compensation for it through a slightly higher monthly benefit after FRA.

wait so is it the box 1 wages or the box 3 ss wages that count? im still confused

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I clearly misunderstood how this works. We'll go back and check his actual gross earnings to make sure we're tracking correctly for 2025. And we'll be setting aside some emergency funds just in case we accidentally go over and have to deal with benefit withholding. It's frustrating that something seemingly simple gets so complicated. Hopefully when he reaches Full Retirement Age in a few years, we can stop worrying about all this earnings limit stuff!