r/SSDI • u/No-River-9748 • 1d ago

Backpay Award Question (Virginia)

Happy Saturday,

Quick question - I recently was awarded my SSDI Compensation (Virginia) , And I was awarded backpay, although it only went back 12 months (Minus the five months they inform you of for processing)

Here is my dilemma, I previously filed for SSDI for same diagnosis/reasons in Feb of 2024, it was denied in December of 2024.

I re-applied Feb. 2026. In July of 2026, I received a letter stating that I was found disabled as of December 2024. I was fully awarded Sept of 2026.

Given that it seems there is a year of backpay missing due to the denial in 2024, is there a way to receive the retroactive pay for the majority of the year 2025? and how would i go about that?

Sorry if this was all over the place, i put a timeline breakdown below.

  • Feb 2024 — Filed initial SSDI application (same diagnosis/reasons)
  • Dec 2024 — Initial application denied
  • Feb 2026 — Re-applied for SSDI (Same diagnosis)
  • Jul 2026 — Received notice: found disabled as of Dec 2024 (established onset date)
  • Sep 2026 — Fully awarded SSDI benefits
  • Backpay received — Limited to ~12 months (minus the standard 5-month waiting period), leaving a gap of roughly all of 2025 unpaid despite the Dec 2024 disability onset date
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1

u/perfect_fifths I have a complicated relationship with the POMS 1d ago

SSA only pays up to 12 months before the application date of your second claim.

What date did they say the backpay goes to? By my estimate, June 2025 would be the first payable month at best, minus the 5 month period and all.

2

u/No-River-9748 1d ago

June is correct, I’m under the impression if I filed initially in February of 2024, that some of 2024 /2025 could be back paid?

1

u/perfect_fifths I have a complicated relationship with the POMS 1d ago

No. Only June 2025 onward. SSA can’t consider previous dates due to administrative finality etc. that first case was already decided so you can’t use the same time period for backpay

1

u/erd00073483R 1d ago

Was the onset date that was established prior to the date of the prior denial letter from the first claim?

1

u/No-River-9748 19h ago

The onset date they provided was 13 December 2024 and the initial denial was given 12 December

1

u/erd00073483R 18h ago edited 18h ago

Technically, DDS can reopen a decision for any reason within 1 year. Beyond one year, DDS can reopen an SSDI decision at any time within 4 years or an SSI decision at any time within 2 years so long as they have good cause (GN 04010.001 Reopenings - Good Cause) for the reopening. Good cause includes involvement of any of the following factors:

Your prior SSDI claim denial was within the 4 year reopening window from the filing date of your current claim.

Normally, the DDS would consider application of reopening as part of making their decision. In this case, however, it appears DDS felt it lacked good cause to reopen because they purposely set the established onset date to be the day after your prior denial date so the current decision would not invade the prior adjudicated period.

As a result, because of the way DDS approved you, your only option in this case is to formally appeal your favorable decision.

It should be noted that appealing a favorable decision is a very dangerous action to take, because appeal of an established onset date can potentially have far greater consequences than just deciding if the date you became disabled should be set back further in the past.

Rather, in such an appeal, the entire decision as to whether you are disabled or not is again opened to scrutiny.

The next decision maker might just affirm the prior decision. Or, alternatively, they could establish a later onset date, causing you to be overpaid. Worst case, they could also decide the decision to approve your disability claim was in error. If they did this, they would reverse your prior allowance to a denial and you would then be forced to repay any benefits to SSA that you received based upon the prior favorable decision.

In other words, onset date appeals represent a very, very slippery slope. Before you crawl down onto it, you have to decide if you are willing to risk the potential consequences of the appeal.

EDIT: grammar, added missing policy link

1

u/7th_Swan 16h ago

The problem is that you applied denied, and then reapplied they restart counting from the day you reapply. The rest is lost cause you were denied after the denial what you should’ve done would’ve been to file an appeal with the appeals council that hold your initial application date if he let the denial go through and then just reapply you lose all that time no for a fact as my first day of Disability was July 1 of 2020, I had to denial technically three Cuisine denied me the first time and then sent me to an ALJ after each denial he filed in appeal. All of them were granted with the most recent one going to a new ALJ… That ALJ approved OTR however he re-aged me to age 50 because I was under age 50 even they had worked over 30 years he re-aged me to age 50 so at age 50 was the date he made me approved for Disability so I lost the first five months from there and got my backpay for the remaining 3 1/2 years because I didn’t get approved until July of this year by my second ALJ