Social Security earnings limit question - will husband's income affect my 2025 SS benefits?

Good news - your husband's income doesn't count toward YOUR earnings limit for Social Security! The earnings test only applies to YOUR own work earnings, not your spouse's income. So if you're not working yourself, your benefits won't be reduced regardless of how much your husband makes. Filing jointly doesn't change this rule. The 2025 earnings limit only applies to the person actually receiving Social Security benefits before their FRA.

WRONG information above!! They look at HOUSEHOLD income wen u file JOINT! My sister lost $230 from her check because of her husband still working!! Call SS and ask them directly don't listen to internet people!!!

I had exactly this same question when I started drawing SS last year! I was sooo confused because there are actually THREE different things that get mixed up: 1. The EARNINGS LIMIT - only YOUR income from working counts 2. TAXATION of benefits - yes, filing jointly means his income + your SS might make your benefits taxable 3. MEDICARE PREMIUMS - if you're on Medicare, higher joint income can increase your premiums Maybe the person above is confusing these? I spent hours researching this stuff!

u should really just wait till your FRA to avoid all this headache.. thats what im doing. not worth the cuts to benefits

I spent FIVE HOURS trying to get through to SSA last month with this EXACT question. Kept getting disconnected or put on endless hold! Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent confirmed what others said - spouse income doesn't count for earnings test, only your personal work income matters. But joint income DOES affect how much of your SS is taxable. Worth calling to discuss your specific situation.

my wife started SS last summer while i still work. her check stays the same no matter what i make. but yes we do pay more taxes because my income plus her SS pushed us into higher bracket. still worth it for us to have her collecting early

To clarify some technical details here: 1. The 2025 earnings limit for beneficiaries under FRA for the entire year will likely be around $22,320 (based on COLA projections). Only YOUR earnings count toward this. 2. For taxation: up to 85% of your benefits may be taxable if your combined income (adjusted gross income + nontaxable interest + 1/2 of SS benefits) exceeds $44,000 on a joint return. 3. Your husband's income won't affect your benefit amount, but it will likely make your benefits taxable at the maximum rate due to your combined income. 4. If you're concerned about maximizing lifetime benefits, you might want to review if it's more advantageous for you to claim at 63 or wait, especially considering your husband's higher income currently provides support.

Look all i know is my friends wife gets less SS wen he works more so SOMETHING is affecting it maybe not earnings test but SOMETHING!!

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - have you considered whether claiming YOUR benefits at 63 might affect potential SPOUSAL benefits later? If your husband's benefit would be much higher than yours, there might be strategies worth looking at for maximizing what you both get. These rules got more complicated after 2015 though. Might want to use one of those SS calculator tools online.

Just wanted to add one more consideration that might help with your decision - if you're planning to claim at 63 and your husband is still working, you might want to look into whether he can contribute to a spousal IRA for you since you're not working. This could help offset some of the tax impact from your SS benefits being taxable due to his income. Also, since you mentioned stopping work last year, make sure you've checked your earnings record on ssa.gov to ensure all your years of work are properly credited before you file for benefits. I caught an error in mine that would have cost me about $50/month!

As someone who went through this exact situation 2 years ago, I can confirm what others have said - your husband's income will NOT affect your Social Security benefit amount or trigger the earnings test. However, I learned the hard way about the tax implications! With his $85K salary plus your SS benefits, you'll likely owe taxes on up to 85% of your benefits. What caught me off guard was that we needed to start making quarterly estimated tax payments since there wasn't enough being withheld from my husband's paycheck to cover the additional tax on my SS benefits. My advice: 1) Don't worry about the earnings test - that's only YOUR work income, 2) Do talk to a tax professional about withholding/estimated payments, and 3) Consider having taxes withheld directly from your SS payments (you can request this on Form W-4V). Also, since you worked 35+ years, your benefit calculation should be solid, but definitely verify your earnings record one more time before filing. Good luck with your decision!

I'm in a very similar situation and this thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm 62 and considering claiming next year while my husband continues working. One thing I wanted to add that might be useful - I spoke with a financial advisor who mentioned that if you're concerned about the tax impact of your benefits being taxable due to your husband's income, you might want to look into Roth IRA conversions during the years between when you claim SS and when your husband retires. Since you'll already be in a higher tax bracket due to the SS taxation, it might be a good time to convert some traditional IRA/401k funds to Roth while you're "already paying the higher rate" anyway. Obviously this depends on your specific financial situation, but it's another planning consideration that ties into the SS claiming decision. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it's so much more helpful than trying to decode the SSA website alone!

As a federal employee who recently navigated this same decision, I wanted to share a few additional considerations that might be helpful. Since you mentioned working 35+ years, you should also think about whether those years included any government service where you paid into a pension system instead of Social Security - this could trigger the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO) rules that might reduce your benefits. Also, one strategy worth considering: since your husband is 59 and still working, you might want to model what happens if you claim your benefits now at 63, but then he retires early (say at 62) and claims his benefits early too. Sometimes couples find that having both people claim early works better financially than having one person wait, especially when you factor in the years of additional income you'd receive. The other thing I'd suggest is running the numbers on what your break-even age would be - at what age would waiting until 67 finally "pay off" compared to claiming at 63. Given that your husband will have income to support you both, you have more flexibility in this decision than someone who desperately needs the income right away. Just make sure you're making the choice based on your complete financial picture, not just the monthly benefit amount!

I wanted to chime in as someone who works in retirement planning - this thread has covered the key points really well! Just to summarize the main takeaways for Andre: 1) Your husband's income will NOT affect your SS earnings test or benefit amount, 2) It WILL likely make 85% of your benefits taxable since your combined income will exceed $44,000, and 3) You'll need to plan for the tax impact through withholding or quarterly payments. One small addition - since you stopped working last year, make sure you understand how that will affect your benefit calculation. SS uses your highest 35 years of earnings, so if you had any very low or zero earning years early in your career, that recent year of zero earnings might actually help your calculation by dropping out an even lower year. You can see this on your ssa.gov statement. Also, given all the great advice here about Roth conversions and coordinated claiming strategies, you might want to consider getting a comprehensive Social Security analysis done before you decide. The $200-300 cost for a professional analysis could potentially save you thousands over your lifetime if there's a better strategy you haven't considered. Best of luck with your decision!