Will Roth IRA withdrawals count toward Social Security Survivor Benefits earnings limit?

Good news - Roth IRA withdrawals do NOT count toward the Social Security earnings limit. The earnings test only counts wages from employment or net earnings from self-employment. Investment income, including IRA withdrawals (Roth or traditional), interest, dividends, capital gains, pensions, and annuities don't count toward the limit. So you can safely take out that $8,000 without worrying about your survivor benefits being affected. Just make sure you're following the Roth IRA rules for qualified distributions to avoid any tax issues with the IRS (generally, the account needs to be open for 5+ years and you need to be 59½ or older).

BE CAREFUL!!!! The SSA agent told me ANY money counts toward the limit when I was on survivors benefits last year!!! I had to pay back $3,800 because they said I went over the limit!!! The whole system is designed to CONFUSE people and TAKE THEIR MONEY!!! I would ABSOLUTELY call and get this in writing from someone at SSA before you withdraw anything!!! Don't trust what people on the internet say about this!!!

I went through exactly this situation last year. You're completely fine taking Roth IRA distributions while collecting survivor benefits. The SSA only counts "earned income" toward the annual earnings limit - basically money you actively work for, like wages, salaries, bonuses, commissions, etc. Roth IRA distributions are considered "unearned income" and don't affect your benefits at all. I withdrew $12k from my Roth last year while on survivor benefits and it had zero impact. If you're still worried, you can check the SSA website directly: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/rtea.html - it specifically mentions only earnings from work count.

good 4 u on the roth! wish i had done that instead of traditional ira, taxes are killing me rn on my withdraws. my sister got survivor benifits too and she takes money from investments all the time, no problems

Just wanted to add one clarification that might help others reading this thread - there's a difference between the earnings limit test (which affects benefits before Full Retirement Age) and provisional income (which determines if your Social Security benefits are taxable). For the earnings limit: Roth withdrawals don't count, as others have confirmed. For taxation of benefits: Roth withdrawals also don't count toward the provisional income formula that determines if your Social Security benefits are taxable. Traditional IRA withdrawals DO count for this purpose. This is one of those hidden advantages of Roths that people don't always realize!

I tried calling SSA for a similar question about investment income last month and couldn't get through after trying for THREE DAYS! Then I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual SSA agent in under 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Worth it just to get confirmation directly from SSA about your specific situation. The agent I spoke with confirmed that Roth distributions don't count toward the earnings limit, just like others here are saying.

my neighbor said something about being careful with roth 5 year rules? not sure what that means but maybe look into it

Another thing to watch is if youre still CONTRIBUTING to the Roth while collecting SS benefits! If youre putting money IN, that money had to come from somewhere and if it came from working that DOES count toward the limit!! The SSA looks at your TAX RETURN not just your W2!!

im so confused about all this survivor benefit stuff... i turn 60 next month and my husband died 3 years ago. should i take survivors now or wait? does the roth thing affect when i should file??