VA Disability and SS Benefits

[wrigley]

Hello,

I was speaking to a gentleman the other day that told me he started collecting his SS benefits at age 62 but was actually collecting the amount he would have received at FRA. He said this was because he was also 100% VA disabled Permanent and Total (P&T). I have never heard of this. Anyone?

Thanks
Mike

 

[braumeister]

I would recommend a more descriptive title to get better responses.

 

[Dtail]

Generally yes this is true.
When one collects SSDI instead of the regular SS, then the amount when one starts to collect the payments is equal to the amount that one would receive at FRA (full retirement age). This is true even when one starts collecting before age 62.

 

[wrigley]

Generally yes this is true.
When one collects SSDI instead of the regular SS, then the amount when one starts to collect the payments is equal to the amount that one would receive at FRA (full retirement age). This is true even when one starts collecting before age 62.

Thanks for the response. This is NOT SSDI. This is VA disability.

Mike

 

[wrigley]

I would recommend a more descriptive title to get better responses.

Thanks. How do I change the name?

Mike

 

[braumeister]

Ask any moderator.

 

[MichaelB]

The thread title was changed

 

[Tadpole]

My husband was classified as disabled by the VA in 2009 when Parkinson's was added to the Agent Orange list. He was reassessed as 100% disabled P&T (permanent and total) in 2020. He signed up for SS in 2009 when he retired at age 63. He died in 2021. His SS was always reduced to the age 63 based amount. I don't know if this is because VA disability doesn't affect the amount of SS one gets if they apply early or if it is because we did not know to challenge the SS amount based on his VA status. We worked with VSOs who, I think, would have made sure we knew about SS coordination with VA if it were applicable.

 

[wrigley]

My husband was classified as disabled by the VA in 2009 when Parkinson's was added to the Agent Orange list. He was reassessed as 100% disabled P&T (permanent and total) in 2020. He signed up for SS in 2009 when he retired at age 63. He died in 2021. His SS was always reduced to the age 63 based amount. I don't know if this is because VA disability doesn't affect the amount of SS one gets if they apply early or if it is because we did not know to challenge the SS amount based on his VA status. We worked with VSOs who, I think, would have made sure we knew about SS coordination with VA if it were applicable.

VA disability and SS are two different entities. One does not affect the other. I'm just a bit bewildered by this because the guy that told me this, isn't one to talk BS. Although, I have not been able to find anything on the subject and find it hard to believe that I have never heard about this from anyone else, EVER. My wife and have a combined total of 44 years of active military service and are still in the loop with many military veterans and this subject has never come up.

 

[wrigley]

The thread title was changed

Thank You

 

[aaronc879]

My Dad is 100% disabled thru the VA but gets his SS based on his retirement age of 64, not the full benefit. Now i'm curious if he has been getting underpaid all these years but I don't think so.

 

[cathy63]

It sounds like he applied for SSDI at age 62 instead of regular SS retirement benefits. SSDI would be the full amount he would get at FRA. It's taxed the same as regular SS and reported on the same form, so it wouldn't seem any different to the recipient.

Being 100% disabled in VA terminology doesn't automatically qualify someone for SSDI, but you could use the same evidence for both claims.

 

[aaronc879]

It sounds like he applied for SSDI at age 62 instead of regular SS retirement benefits. SSDI would be the full amount he would get at FRA. It's taxed the same as regular SS and reported on the same form, so it wouldn't seem any different to the recipient.

Being 100% disabled in VA terminology doesn't automatically qualify someone for SSDI, but you could use the same evidence for both claims.

This is exactly what I was thinking but I wouldn't have been able to write it so well. This post will be very helpful. Thanks.

 

[wrigley]

It sounds like he applied for SSDI at age 62 instead of regular SS retirement benefits. SSDI would be the full amount he would get at FRA. It's taxed the same as regular SS and reported on the same form, so it wouldn't seem any different to the recipient.

Being 100% disabled in VA terminology doesn't automatically qualify someone for SSDI, but you could use the same evidence for both claims.

Well, he never said SSDI. He specifically said SS. BUT.....I'll clarify with him the next time I see him. Thanks everyone.

Mike

 

[cathy63]

Well, he never said SSDI. He specifically said SS. BUT.....I'll clarify with him the next time I see him. Thanks everyone.

Mike

I can envision a situation where he was applying for SS and whoever was adviding/assisting him thought it was obvious that he qualified as disabled so they just filled out the SSDI form instead of the regular one. They may not have explained this very clearly, but if he had to give them info about his disability, that's indicates that he was applying for SSDI even if he didn't realize it.

 

[Nords]

I was speaking to a gentleman the other day that told me he started collecting his SS benefits at age 62 but was actually collecting the amount he would have received at FRA. He said this was because he was also 100% VA disabled Permanent and Total (P&T). I have never heard of this. Anyone?

It's very hard to prove a negative, @wrigley, but I spend way too much time reading through the VA's website. I've never heard of this either.

I can understand someone starting SS at age 62 explicitly because they're 100% P&T and don't expect to live long enough to reach break-even on their SS deposits. But I've never heard of anyone receiving their FRA amount at age 62.
@JDARNELL, by any chance have you ever seen or heard of this?

 

[msanniee]

Hello,

I was speaking to a gentleman the other day that told me he started collecting his SS benefits at age 62 but was actually collecting the amount he would have received at FRA. He said this was because he was also 100% VA disabled Permanent and Total (P&T). I have never heard of this. Anyone?

Thanks
Mike

I just read that social security admin is clawing back $$ from those who receive VA disability benefits and social at the same time. If I recall the article correctly, one cannot benefit from both programs at the same time.

Edited to add the attached. The information is on a rather long and in smaller print document on the VA website.

I suspect that this is why SSA was clawing back $$ in the article I read.

 

[LetsGo]

I just read that social security admin is clawing back $$ from those who receive VA disability benefits and social at the same time. If I recall the article correctly, one cannot benefit from both programs at the same time.

I don't think that is true at all, one is disability while the other is retirement plan. Do you have a source you can share? I don't believe that at all. This is from teh SSA and it works with the VA.

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-64-125.pdf

 

[imnontrad]

I volunteer as an admin of a Facebook group answering SS questions.
His VA disability and SS are completely separate. There are people who have a VA disability rating but do not qualify for Social Security Disability (yet).
What he started was Social Security Disability (SSDI) which is paid that the rate that he would get at his Full Retirement Age (FRA). His SSDI transitions to (regular) SS when he reaches his FRA.

 

[Nords]

I just read that social security admin is clawing back $$ from those who receive VA disability benefits and social at the same time. If I recall the article correctly, one cannot benefit from both programs at the same time.

Do you happen to have a link to where you read that, @msanniee?

Writing as an active-duty military retiree who receives VA disability compensation and who is also eligible for Social Security, this is not correct.

There have been a number of historical federal laws against dual compensation. The latest one, in 1964, has been steadily amended over the years.

U.S. military veterans who receive both a military pension and VA disability compensation still have an offset. Vets with a VA disability rating of less than 50% are required to choose either to receive (tax-free) VA disability compensation and give up the same amount of their (taxable) pension, or to give up their VA disability compensation. Vets with a VA disability rating of 50% or higher now receive both under the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay amendment to dual-compensation laws. But none of that affects other veteran's benefits or Social Security benefits.

There's a persistent attempt to pass a bill permitting all military retirees to keep both their VA disability compensation and their pensions, but it hasn't passed yet. I think it's been submitted for at least a decade of Congressional sessions.

Other examples:
Up through the early 1990s U.S. military officers who retired from active duty had to waive a portion of their pension if they took a civil-service job. The only remaining effective portion of that law requires most active-duty retirees to waive their pensions if they buy all of their military service credit deposit in the federal civil service. However Reserve & Guard members can buy their military service credit deposit and still receive their Reserve pension. There's a similar exception in federal law that allows military retirees with a DoD disability pension to continue to receive that pension (along with a higher FERS pension) after they buy their military service credit deposit.

The vocabulary in those paragraphs is frequently garbled in the financial media.

Up through 2020, military spouses who were receiving the Survivor Benefit Plan annuity could not also receive the VA's Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. The SBP-DIC offset was phased out over the last three years and today survivor families can receive both SBP and DIC.

I'm not familiar with the details of Social Security's SSI and SSDI. I'll defer to someone else's expertise on that, but I've never read of an offset to VA disability compensation or military pensions from SSI or SSDI.

 

[blue.zapfel]

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10565.pdf -Expedited Processing of Veteran’s 100%Disability Claims

Both Social Security and Veterans Affairs
pay disability benefits to qualifying people,
but their programs, processes, and criteria
for receiving benefits are different. A
Veterans Affairs compensation rating of
100% P&T doesn’t guarantee that you’ll
receive Social Security disability benefits.
To receive disability benefits from Social
Security, a person must have a severe
impairment expected to last at least one year
or to result in death. The impairment must be
so severe that the person would be unable
to perform any substantial work.
NOTE: Receiving Veterans Affairs
compensation will not affect your Social
Security benefits.

What should I do to receive
expedited processing of my Social
Security disability application?
If you’re a disabled veteran rated 100% P&T,
you must:
• Identify yourself as a “veteran rated
100% P&T” when you apply for benefits.
If you apply in person or over the phone,
tell the Social Security representative
that you are a veteran rated 100%
P&T. If you apply online, enter “Veteran
100% P&T” in the “Remarks” section of
the application.
• Provide Social Security with your
Veterans Affairs notification letter, which
verifies your rating.

 

[Buckeye]

I just read that social security admin is clawing back $$ from those who receive VA disability benefits and social at the same time. If I recall the article correctly, one cannot benefit from both programs at the same time.

Edited to add the attached. The information is on a rather long and in smaller print document on the VA website.

I suspect that this is why SSA was clawing back $$ in the article I read.

They will count VA benefits against SSI but not SSDI, I think.

 

[Kayzmum]

Hello,

I was speaking to a gentleman the other day that told me he started collecting his SS benefits at age 62 but was actually collecting the amount he would have received at FRA. He said this was because he was also 100% VA disabled Permanent and Total (P&T). I have never heard of this. Anyone?

Thanks
Mike

I’m not a VA but I got $400 more a month than I would have just retiring early because I was disabled. I retired at 63.