Will working over 45 hours a month on my flower farm affect my Social Security survivor benefits?

The Social Security earnings test for survivors benefits focuses on your income amount, not the hours you work. As long as your net earnings from self-employment stay under the annual limit ($23,380 for 2025 if you're under full retirement age the whole year), you should be fine regardless of how many hours you spend farming. The 45-hour rule you're thinking of relates to how SSA determines if you're engaging in substantial work for DISABILITY benefits (SGA), not retirement or survivors benefits. Just make sure you're reporting your earnings correctly on your tax return!

my neighbor had this same issue with her craft business!!! she makes these amazing quilts and sells them at farmers markets. she got SO worried about the hours thing but when she finally got thru to SSA they told her exactly what the person above said - its about $$$ not hours for survivor benefits

The previous responses are correct. For survivors benefits, Social Security only cares about your actual earnings, not hours worked. The earnings limit for 2025 if you're under full retirement age (FRA) is $23,380 annually. Once you reach your FRA, there's no earnings limit at all. However, one thing to be careful about: if you're self-employed, SSA looks at your NET earnings (after business expenses), not gross income. Make sure you're keeping good records of all legitimate business expenses for your flower farm to offset your income. Things like seeds, tools, fertilizer, transportation costs to markets, etc. are all deductible business expenses that can lower your countable income.

WRONG INFO above!!! I got burned by this exact situation last year. SSA absolutely DOES look at hours for self-employed people. They told me they use hours as one way to determine if you're REALLY retired or not. I had to pay back $4800 in benefits even though my income was under the limit because I worked too many hours in my landscaping business. CALL THEM DIRECTLY and get the real answer!!! Don't trust random internet advice!!!

If you're struggling to get through to SSA to confirm this information (which is always a good idea), I'd recommend using Claimyr. It's a service that helps you skip the long hold times when calling Social Security. I used it last month when I had a similar question about my benefits and got through in 5 minutes instead of waiting hours. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU or just go to claimyr.com. Definitely worth it for peace of mind on important benefit questions like this.

Dont worry about it! My aunt has been selling her homemade jams at farmers markets for years while collecting survivors and nobody ever asked her how many hours she spent making them. Just keep ur income under the limit and ur good

I want to address the confusion in this thread about self-employment and Social Security benefits. For retirement and survivors benefits, SSA primarily uses the earnings test - meaning they look at your NET earnings from self-employment, not hours worked. However, there is a potential complication with self-employment: SSA can sometimes look more closely at your situation if they believe you're artificially suppressing your income while still working substantially. This is rare and usually only applies in situations where someone is working full-time but manipulating their reported income. For a legitimate small flower farm operation where you're honestly reporting your income and expenses, you should be fine as long as your net earnings stay under the annual limit. When you reach your full retirement age, the earnings test disappears completely. If you want to be absolutely certain, I recommend contacting SSA directly about your specific situation. Document the conversation details including the representative's name and the date/time of your call.

One more thing - remember that once you hit your full retirement age the earnings limit goes away COMPLETELY!!! Then you can work as much as u want and make as much $ as u want with no reduction in benefits. So if ur FRA is coming up soon maybe just hang tight if ur worried

Just to clarify an important point about self-employment: While the 45-hour rule isn't relevant for survivor benefits, SSA does have a special test for self-employed people that can be applied in certain circumstances. They can evaluate if you're providing significant services to your business despite low reported income. However, this is primarily applied in situations where there's reason to suspect income manipulation - like a business owner suddenly reporting minimal income after retirement while continuing to work the same hours. For a small flower farm with modest income like yours, this is extremely unlikely to be an issue. Just keep good records, report your income honestly, and you should be fine with your survivor benefits as long as you stay under the annual earnings limit.