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Social Security earnings limit question - husband retired mid-year with income before retirement only

My husband just started collecting Social Security in April 2025 at age 63 (below his full retirement age of 67). He earned about $45,000 from January through March before retiring, which is over the annual earnings limit. He hasn't worked since then and doesn't plan to return to work. I understand there's some kind of special first-year rule that might help us avoid benefit reductions since all his income was earned before he started benefits. My question is - how does SSA know that he earned this money before starting benefits? Do we need to contact them specifically about this or provide documentation? Will they automatically figure it out based on his tax returns or do we need to be proactive? I'm worried his benefits might get reduced unnecessarily if they just look at the yearly total.

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16 comments

Demi Lagos

•15d

You're right about the special first-year rule (also called the "monthly earnings test"). Since your husband will have $0 in earnings for the months he's receiving benefits, SSA won't reduce his payments regardless of what he earned before he started collecting. As for reporting, you don't need to do anything special now. When you file taxes for 2025 (in early 2026), your husband's W-2 will show his total earnings. SSA will review this and might send a questionnaire asking which months he earned the money. They may also ask for proof of retirement. It's a good idea to keep pay stubs or other documentation showing when his earnings stopped, just in case. But you don't need to proactively report anything at this point.

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Vera Visnjic

•15d

The monthly earnings test is what applies in your case. Here's exactly what happens: 1. SSA initially only knows the annual amount from tax records 2. They will likely send Form SSA-623 (Monthly Earnings Report) after they process 2025 tax info 3. On this form, your husband will indicate which months he had zero earnings 4. You should provide a copy of his final pay stub as evidence 5. SSA will then apply the monthly test instead of the annual test I recommend calling SSA directly now to document this in his file. It won't change the process, but creates a record that you were proactive about reporting.

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Brielle Johnson

•15d

When I retired midyear in 2023, I tried calling SSA about this exact situation and it was IMPOSSIBLE to get through. Busy signals, disconnections, the whole disaster. After days of trying, I found a service called Claimyr that got me connected to an SSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU that shows how it works. Using them was way better than wasting days trying to get through on my own. The agent I spoke with confirmed exactly what others are saying here about the monthly earnings test.

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Oliver Brown

•15d

I just want to add something important that nobody mentioned. The earnings limit for 2025 is $22,320 if you're under full retirement age for the entire year. Since your husband earned $45,000 before claiming benefits, that's over the limit, but as others said, the monthly test will apply. But be VERY careful if he decides to work at all later in 2025! Once he earns even $1 after benefits start, you can no longer use the monthly test and they'll apply the annual test instead. That would mean they'd count his entire $45,000 against the limit and he'd lose benefits. So make sure he doesn't work at all for the rest of 2025, not even part-time or contract work that would generate a 1099.

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