The Social Security Website provides information, forms, and documents for:

1. Preparing to Receive Benefits — Checking eligibility, getting benefits estimate, and obtaining planning assistance.

2. Applying for Benefits — Signing up for Medicare, applying for SSI, checking application status, and appealing decisions.

3. Managing Benefits & Obtaining Information — Obtaining documents, managing payments, obtaining/replacing social security card, and updating profile data.

You can create a Social Security online account at www.ssa.gov or www.socialsecurity.gov using one of the following two secure government sign on methods: LOGIN.GOV or ID.me. To obtain access you must provide some personal information about yourself and answer questions that only you are likely to know the answers to.  These sign on methods provide simple, secure and private access to government websites.

A Social Security Statement showing your earnings history is available to view online and download from the Social Security website. To view the statement, you must open a Social Security Account identifying yourself via LOGIN.GOV or ID.me.

For workers 60 and older who do not have a Social Security online account, Social Security Statements will be mailed three months prior to their birthday.

Your Social Security Statement consists of 8 sections:

1. Retirement Benefits,
2. Disability Benefits,
3. Survivors Benefits,
4. Medicare Information,
5. Earnings Record (by work year),
6. Social Security & Medicare Taxes Paid,
7. Earnings not Covered by Social Security, and
8. Important Things to Know about Social Security Benefits.

If you are not retired, your full retirement age and benefits that you would receive at your full retirement age based on total earnings to date are shown. In addition, your monthly benefit estimates based on retirement benefits start year are shown for years 62 (early retirement) to 70.

If you are already retired, retirement benefits are not shown on the statement. Since you are already receiving benefits, disability and survivors benefit estimates are also not shown.

Click here to download a sample statement.

In general anyone who has paid Social Security taxes or is the spouse of someone who has paid Social Security taxes receives benefits when they retire.

When Congress passed the Social Security Act in 1935, it excluded federal, state, and local government employees from mandatory coverage. In the early 1950s, Congress passed a law that allowed state and local government employees to be covered if they voluntarily chose coverage in a referendum.

Up until 1984, workers for the federal government were covered under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), did not pay Social Security tax on earnings, and were not covered by Social Security.

But in 1984, a second retirement system, the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), was introduced. Federal workers hired under FERS are covered by Social Security because they pay Social Security taxes. Also, some workers covered by CSRS chose to switch to FERS.

Social Security benefits replace a percentage of your earnings when you retire, become disabled or die.  Your benefit payment is based on how much you earned during your working career.  Higher lifetime earnings result in higher benefits.  If there were some years when you did not work or had low earnings, your benefit amount may be lower than if you worked steadily.

As described above, your online Social Security statement will provide you with estimates of benefits you may get when you retire.  Another way to estimate benefits is to use the Retirement Income Estimator on the Social Security website: www.socialsecurity.gov.

The Retirement Income Estimator gives estimates based on your actual Social Security earnings record.  Actual benefit amounts are not available until you apply for benefits, and that amount may differ from the estimates provided because:

• Your earnings may increase or decrease in the future.
• After you start receiving benefits, they will be adjusted for cost-of-living increases.
• Your estimated benefits are based on current law.  The law governing benefit amounts may change because, by 2033, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 75 cents for each dollar of scheduled benefits.
• Your benefit amount may be affected by military service, railroad employment or pensions earned through work on which you did not pay Social Security tax.

The Social Security benefit (income amount) depends on the age a worker chooses to retire. For example, a worker retiring at Full Retirement Age (FRA) in 2022 will receive $3,345 per month. They will receive less if they retire early and more if they forego benefits for additional years (see following chart). (Figures in this table are based on earnings at the maximum taxable amounts for 35 years, as shown in the next section below).

There is no minimum monthly Social Security benefit amount.  For administrative reasons, they will not pay a benefit of less than $1.

As shown in the cumulative benefit columns of the above table, Social Security provides very generous benefits to those who have contributed (via payroll deductions) to the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Fund.  If you are a recent retiree and live to age 80, you will receive over half a million dollars in benefits.  This will be over twice what you have contributed to the OASDI fund while working.

Social Security payments are made on Wednesdays based on the day of the month on which you were born:

The maximum social security benefit that you receive depends on three factors:

1. 1. Your Full Retirement Age (FRA),
   2. The age at which you retire, and
   3. Your income each year after age 21.

You will receive maximum benefits if you have earned at least the following amounts each year after age 21:

Maximum Taxable Earnings Each Year

Choosing when to retire is one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime.  If you choose to retire, and begin receiving social security benefits, when you reach your full retirement age, you will receive your full benefit amount.  If you were born in 1956, you will have reached your full retirement age this year (2022).

The following chart lists the full retirement age by year of birth:

If you were born on January 1st of any year you should refer to the previous year.  If you were born on the 1st of the month, your benefit (and your full retirement age) is figured as if your birthday was in the previous month.

You may start receiving benefits as early as age 62.  However, if you start your benefits early (before your full retirement age shown above), your benefit amount is reduced.  Your benefit is reduced about one-half of 1 percent for each month you start your Social Security before your full retirement age.  For example, if your full retirement age is 66 and you sign up for Social Security when you are 62, you would only get 75 percent of your full benefit.  Note that the reduction will be greater in future years as the full retirement age increases.

Here's the percent of your full retirement benefit that you'll receive for various retirement years if your Full Retirement Age (FRA) is 66 or 67:

If you choose to delay receiving benefits beyond your full retirement age, your benefit will be increased by a certain percentage, depending on the year you were born.  The increase will be added in automatically each month from the time you reach full retirement age until you start taking benefits or reach age 70, whichever comes first.  The following table shows the percentage of your full retirement age (66 or 67) benefit that you'll receive based on the age you begin receiving benefits:

• The primary worker must have filed for benefits (but can suspend benefits to build delayed credits if over full retirement age and less than 70 years old).
• The spouse must be at least 62 for reduced benefit or 66 for full benefit.
• A spouse cannot delay receiving benefits past their full retirement age and earn delayed retirement credits.

There are additional rules for divorcees which can be found on the social security website.

As previously presented, you can begin receiving Social Security benefits anytime between the year you turn 62 and the year you turn 70.  There are many factors to consider in deciding when, within this 8-year period, to begin receiving your Social Security benefits.  Among them are:

• Your health and how long you expect to live.
• How dependent you are on your Social Security income.
• What you plan to do with your benefits if you begin receiving them early.
• Whether you plan to work after retiring from your regular, primary job.

The table below shows the effect of receiving an early Social Security benefit (at age 62) instead of waiting until full retirement age (66 in this example).  If the 62-year-old decides to wait until he turns 66, he will expect to receive approximately $3,620.74 per month. This is calculated as this year's full retirement benefit ($3,345) increased by 2% per year. If the worker retires at age 62, he will receive approximately 75% of his full retirement age benefit ($2,364.00).

The example calculates the cumulative effect of money received to determine the age at which the retiree would be further ahead to have waited.

In this example the person who waited to receive social security benefits until they reached full retirement age (66) will be ahead in cumulative benefits (by $7,375.52) at age 74.  At age 80 this person will be receiving $16,813.31 a year extra and will have received a cumulative benefit of nearly $103,438 more.

Finally, you need to consider that the person who began receiving Social Security benefits at age 62 accumulated $116,921.78 before the full-retirement-age person received any money.  These "early" dollars are worth more due to inflation.  If they are invested at 5% for these first four years, they would yield an additional $12,056 in interest.

Although you are not required to have federal taxes withheld from your Social Security benefits, you may find that easier than paying quarterly estimated tax payments.  To have federal taxes withheld, or to change your original withholding request, you will need to:

• Complete IRS Form W-4V,
• Select the percentage (7, 10, 12, or 22 percent) of your monthly benefit amount you want withheld, and
• Sign and return the form to your local Social Security office by mail or in person.

You may obtain IRS Form W-4V from the IRS Website at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4v.pdf or by calling the IRS toll-free number, 1-800-829-3676.

Social Security automatically deducts your monthly cost for Medicare and your Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (if any).  However, it is not authorized to withhold state taxes, if any, from your benefit payment.

If you've already begun receiving Social Security retirement benefits, you can continue to work and still receive benefits.  Working while receiving benefits will only reduce benefits in the years worked and will not reduce future benefits.  Your earnings in (or after) the month you reach full retirement age will not reduce your Social Security benefits.  In fact, working beyond full retirement age can increase your benefits.  However, your benefits will be reduced if your earnings exceed certain limits for the months before you reach your full retirement age.

If you work but start receiving benefits before full retirement age, $1 in benefits will be deducted for each $2 in earnings you have above the annual limit.  In 2022, the limit is $19,560.

In the year you reach your full retirement age, your benefits will be reduced $1 for every $3 you earn over a different annual limit ($51,960 in 2022) until the month you reach full retirement age. But only the earnings before the month you reach full retirement age are counted.

Once you reach full retirement age, you can keep working, and your Social Security benefit will not be reduced no matter how much you earn.