Will SS benefits stop automatically when exceeding earnings limit before FRA or will I owe money back?

This litterally happened to me last year! They kept sending my checks and then BAM they sent me a notice saying I owed back $7,400!! I had no idea they would make me pay it all back, I thought they would just stop the payments!! Social security is such a mess, they should tell people this stuff upfront.

What will happen is SSA will apply their earnings test once you report the income, either through your tax return or directly to them. They don't automatically stop payments when you hit the threshold - instead, they'll reduce future benefits to recover any overpayment. For every $2 you earn above the annual limit ($22,320 in 2025), they'll withhold $1 from future benefits. So if you earn $25,320 (which is $3,000 over), they would withhold $1,500 from future payments. The IRMAA surcharge is a separate issue that wouldn't be affected by this situation. IRMAA is based on your modified adjusted gross income from two years prior.

The best thing you can do is be proactive here. Call the SSA directly and report your expected earnings for the year. They can then adjust your benefits accordingly to avoid a big overpayment situation. I've found that getting through to SSA is nearly impossible these days, but I recently used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent within 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU Doing this saved me from a similar situation when I took on consulting work last year. The agent worked out exactly what I'd owe and adjusted my payments accordingly.

If you go way over the earnings limit, they will definitely want the money back!!! And they charge INTEREST too!!! I don't care what anyone says about them reducing future benefits. When I went over by $12,000 three years ago, they billed me for EVERYTHING they paid me that year minus the first $22,000 or whatever it was back then. TERRIBLE system that PUNISHES people for working!!

my sister had something similar happen last yr and SSA did an adjustment midyear bc she told them about the extra income. they skipped her payments for 2 months then resumed at normal amount. better than owing later.

One thing people often forget is that the earnings limit applies to EARNED income only, not investment or pension income. Also, in the year you reach FRA, the limit is much higher ($59,520 for 2025) and they only count earnings before the month you reach FRA. And only $1 for every $3 over the limit is withheld in that year. Anyone told you your FRA might actually be 66 and some months, not 67? That 67 FRA is only for people born in 1960 or later.

I went over the earnings limit by like $4,000 last year... i was so worried but then when i called they explained that they only take HALF of the overage amount from my benefits. So for $4000 over they reduced my benefits by $2000 total (spread across several months). It wasnt as bad as people say.

After reviewing all the responses, here's a practical summary: Contact SSA proactively to report your anticipated earnings. The reduction will be $1 for every $2 you earn above the limit. They may suspend payments for some months or reduce each payment until the amount is recovered. If you don't report it, they'll eventually find out through tax records and send you a notice of overpayment. The good news is that once you reach your Full Retirement Age, these earnings limitations disappear completely, and your benefit will be recalculated to give credit for the months benefits were withheld.