Social Security earnings limit for joint tax filers - will my spouse's income count against my $23,400 limit?

Good news - the earnings test only applies to YOUR individual earnings, not your spouse's. Your wife can earn $250,000 next year and it won't affect your benefits at all. The Social Security earnings limit only counts wages or self-employment income that YOU earn. The fact that you file taxes jointly is completely irrelevant to how SSA applies the earnings test. They only look at your individual earnings record.

WRONG INFO ABOVE!!!! My husband and I went through this last year and they DID count our combined income!!! We filed jointly and they took away almost $400/month from his checks because I was still working. The SSA office told us we should have filed TAXES separately to avoid this!!! Don't listen to people who don't know what there talking about!!!

my sister had this problem to...she retired at 62 but her husband kept working. they told her at first his income counted but then when she went back they said it didn't. the SS people don't even know there own rules sometimes lol

The previous responses are mostly correct. The earnings test ONLY applies to the person receiving benefits. Your spouse's earnings have zero impact on whether your benefits are reduced under the earnings test. I work with retirees all the time who are in your exact situation. However, there is one caveat: if you have any involvement in your spouse's business (like helping out occasionally, even without direct payment), the SSA might consider some of that as your income. They can be quite strict about this with family businesses. Also, remember that while your spouse's income doesn't affect the earnings test, your combined income WILL affect how much of your Social Security is taxable on your federal tax return. That's a completely separate issue from the earnings test.

When I retired in 2023 I was so confused about this too!! But yes everyone is right - only YOUR earnings count toward the limit. But watch out because they count GROSS earnings not what you take home!

Ugh I tried calling SSA three times to ask this EXACT question last month and couldn't get through to anyone. Kept getting disconnected after waiting for 45+ minutes each time. I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real person at SSA in about 20 minutes. They confirmed what others are saying - spouse income doesn't count toward YOUR earnings limit. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU

i don't understand why the goverment has to take money away from seniors anyways... we worked are whole lives for those benefits!!

One more important point that hasn't been mentioned: Even if you do exceed your individual earnings limit, the $1 for every $2 reduction isn't as bad as it sounds. Here's why: 1. If you earn $25,400 (which is $2,000 over the $23,400 limit), they would only withhold $1,000 for the year. 2. SSA doesn't take a little from each check - they typically withhold full months of benefits at the beginning of the year until they've satisfied the withholding amount. 3. Most importantly, these aren't permanent reductions. When you reach your Full Retirement Age, SSA will recalculate your benefit and give you credit for the months they withheld, which increases your monthly payment going forward.