Can i repay social security benefits

As the U. Workers have been laid off or furloughed as businesses closed due to the coronavirus. With payrolls down, the benefits that Social Security offers could be more important than ever to a growing number of people near retirement whose incomes are being impacted.

Depending on your unique situation, you might find yourself turning to one of these claiming strategies:. Will you start taking Social Security, or will you tap into your retirement savings for income? If you do decide to start taking Social Security early, you need to understand that your benefit will be permanently reduced if you claim before your full retirement age , which is somewhere between 66 and For those who turn 62 in , full retirement age is 66 and 8 months.

Because of the permanent reduction in benefits, we usually recommend waiting to claim Social Security until full retirement age or later … but if you need the income, taking Social Security early might be a good option. You are allowed to withdraw your Social Security benefits after enrolling. You can withdraw your benefits within the first year of claiming Social Security, no matter what your age. You must pay back any money you received; the Social Security Administration then treats it like you never enrolled, and your monthly check can continue to grow until you start taking benefits again.

You then meet with a financial adviser, who helps you come up with a plan for income, and you decide a few months later to withdraw your benefits. You can withdraw your benefits, pay the money back and allow your future benefit to grow as if you never enrolled in the first place. To withdraw your benefits, you must fill out a special form from the Social Security Administration , stating the reason for your withdrawal. You will mail the form , and the Social Security Administration will notify you if you are approved.

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Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. Now Reading:. Membership My Account. Rewards for Good. Share with facebook. Share with twitter. Share with linkedin. Share using email. That includes: Your monthly retirement payments.

Any family benefits collected by your spouse or children , who must consent in writing to the withdrawal. Any money withheld from your payments by Social Security — for example, to pay your Medicare premium. Keep in mind If you change your mind about a withdrawal of benefits, you have 60 days from the date Social Security approves your withdrawal to cancel the request.

Updated June 15, The Notice of Overpayment will tell you how much you were overpaid. It will tell you to send the money back in 30 days. After you have figured out what the Notice says, there are several different ways to deal with it.

You can do any one of these things or more than one at the same time. Here are your choices:. Whatever you decide to do, act quickly! Do not just put the notice aside. If you ignore the notice, SSA will start taking money out of your future checks. Here is some more detailed information about each of the choices listed above:. If you do not think you were overpaid, or if the amount is not right, ask for a reconsideration of the overpayment. Here are the rules:. If you request reconsideration, an SSA worker will review the papers in your file and make a new decision based on this file review.

You will have an opportunity to present any new documents you want SSA to see. After reconsideration, if SSA still says that you were overpaid, you can appeal that decision. See Step Three below for the next steps to take. However, SSA can start to get the overpayment back after the reconsideration, even if you appeal.