When to file for SSA

gayl

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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When does someone file for Social Security? I'm eligible for retirement next May but I want to file restricted first. So if I'm eligible in May, do I file in May? :confused:
 
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Generally you want to file at least a couple of months, preferably three, before you want benefits to start. But make sure to specify when you want to start. If you do it in person at an SS office they may make for wrong (for you) assumptions. Online, they ask so that is the better option.
 
Define what you mean by restricted? Laws have changed
The enrollment deadlines under the budget deal are splitting beneficiaries into groups of haves and have-nots. Only those who are age 66 or older six months after the law was enacted -- around May 1, 2016 -- will be able to employ the file-and-suspend strategy. To use the restricted application strategy, you must be age 62 or older as of January 1, 2016 -- keeping the door open for those who are turning 62 to 66 over the next four years. (You need to be full retirement age -- 66 for today's retirees -- to employ either strategy.)Big Changes for Claiming Social Security
 
I'm in that category where I can file on my xH's SSA account and let mine continue to grow. It was much easier before Social Security simplified it last year :(
 
If you were born before January 2, 1954 and have already reached full retirement age, you can choose to receive only the divorced spouse’s benefit and delay receiving your retirement benefit until a later date. If your birthday is January 2, 1954 or later, the option to take only one benefit at full retirement age no longer exists. If you file for one benefit, you will be effectively filing for all retirement or spousal benefits

I presume that you are in the first category. If so, then go in and see them in February or March.
 
You can file for SS based on age, not when you retire from your job.
Now I have no idea about divorced filing, so it may not apply.

But if you are age appropiate for SS, then filing for it January of the year is better (according to other thread due to the increases). So if divorced filing works the same as regular filing, you could file in January, and even though work , they would just reduce the SS you get by a portion, (you still get some , which is better than zero) while you are working and waiting to retire.

Isn't it nice and complex :eek:
 
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