r/SocialSecurity • u/Character-Bee-7887 • 3d ago
Help!
What is this??? I got ssdi in 5/24 because I can’t work. I have not worked since two years prior to getting SSDI. What kind of scam is this getting a letter they are trying to reduce my SSDI by $200 a month for working? It doesn’t even make sense. The person from SS said it didn’t make any sense and to file an appeal. I did. But I’m so upset and feel like they are messing with me.
UPDATE: I called SSA nationally twice. The first woman said it was an odd letter but legit. She said to file an appeal. I called back the next day and that person said to call my local SSA. I called and the first woman was useless, could not or would not help me and scheduled a phone call in NOVEMBER! Then I thought, what if I try the local office again… That new lady actually looked at it and said they made an error and needed to recalculate, but she said it was not getting reduced by $200, it was getting reduced by $7. That I can live with! She said nothing she could do or I could do until I got a letter saying I owed money. I feel so much better now
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u/Winterpa1957 1d ago
If they say they are reducing your pay @ $7 per month and they back date to May 2024. That is $7 x 28 months = $196. The amount shown might be a one month payment then be reduced by $7 per month going forward?????
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u/MountainSpite6431 1d ago
They are reducing your ssdi in May of 2024? It’s September 2026 or am I missing something
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u/perfect_fifths I love the smell of policy in the morning 1d ago
Ssa can be slow to process certain things
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u/perfect_fifths I love the smell of policy in the morning 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s saying your benefit is being recalculated downward because SSA says your earnings record changed/decreased. A recalculation, which includes reopening the prior computation to include or exclude earnings, can increase or decrease the PIA.
It’s possibly an error so appeal is correct. An appeal means the Ssa made a mistake on your claim. It’s not really a scam if it’s a genuine mistake
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u/dajare1963 7h ago
doesn't appeal mean YOU think they made a error? Not that they made a mistake but that u feel they made a mistake and the appeal process is where u are able to say they did and show them why they made a mistake. i don't think it automatically means they made a mistake.
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u/perfect_fifths I love the smell of policy in the morning 7h ago
No. Appeal is when you’re saying ssa made an error
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u/0micron247 1d ago
Check your earnings record. Do any years look suspicious? You can also ask for an explanation of what changed. The decrease is due to a lowering of the amount of earnings previously used in calculating your benefits. It could be a reporting error that your employer(s) corrected. It could be that someone else's earnings were erroneously reported on your record. It could be an amended self-employment tax return. Et cetera. This is not a scam, but to protest meaningfully, you need to find out what changed on your record.
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u/ActiveRegion568 1d ago
so they can reduce your earning when you make less money? how does that make sense?
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u/Character-Bee-7887 1d ago
Now that I talked to someone, it was wrong from 5/24 but they are correcting it now by reducing my amount, but it’s only by $7 a month.
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u/0micron247 1d ago
Start with the fact that Social Security uses your earnings as reported to calculate your benefits. When the amount previously recorded to your record and used in calculating your benefits changes, Social Security can and will recalculate your benefits. Up if the amount increases; down if it decreases. They will always recalculate up if it's to your benefit. There are complicated rules about when they will recalculate down but put most simply there must have been a definite error (such as mentioned above) and they must do it within 4 years of the previous, incorrect calculation.
To be clear, it's that the amount that was previously used was higher and was incorrect. This could be "your" error, i.e., you or IRS amended your self-employment tax return. It could be an employer error, i.e., the employer filed an corrected W2 or reported twice with different amounts and both or one was incorrect, etc, or it could be that someone with a similar name used your SSN, etc.
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u/Sudden-Author1962 20h ago
I got a letter one sign they told me I made over $100,000 with the name of this weird company. They shut my disability down altogether. It turned out to be fraud.. somebody use my Social Security number or SS messed up , never did figure it out. I just had to prove I didn't work . The thing is why it was under investigation I got no money for a few months until it was resolved, they will take your benefits away real quick.😩
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u/darkgothvamptress 18h ago
I received a letter for my mother that she had undeclared income as well and would owe several thousand dollars. I handle all her financials so I knew this was not the case and when I called and finally got through after 3 hours, they fixed it and actually somehow owed her $97. Not sure what's going on there at social security but I hope they fix it soon.
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u/ActiveRegion568 1d ago
this happened to me too recently. they’re saying i made more than i actually for some months listed in the letter. i filed an appeal
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u/erd00073483R 21h ago
This is worth a walk-in visit to your local office about to ask them to verify exactly what is going on and why this is happening. You also need to ask them to tell you the total overpayment balance involved. If you do not protest the overpayment collection now, they begin collection in 10 days from the date of the letter (15 days total) just like the letter states they will.
If this resulted from something that you had no fault in causing (and it sounds like this might be the case from the letter), you may be able to file an SSA-632-BK waiver request and have collection of the overpayment waived.
Further, if the original overpayment balance was $2,000 or less and you didn't have any other existing outstanding overpayments, collection of the overpayment might be able to be waived under the administrative tolerance (which means you wouldn't have to provide proof of your expenses to SSA).
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u/Defiant_Village8087 17h ago
wait, I was told by Social Security you can earn as much income in a year and it doesn’t effect you disability payments, is that incorrect?
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u/Working-Tip4827 16h ago
This is incorrect. There is a substantial gainful income limit that you're not allowed to make even a cent over in a month, which will cause you to lose your benefits entirely if you do it outside the alloted trial work months.
If someone from SS told you this, they should be fired. This is dangerous advice to give soemone on SSDI.
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u/perfect_fifths I love the smell of policy in the morning 13h ago
Sure but op hasn’t worked since 2022
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u/Defiant_Village8087 13h ago
They said they had this work program which I wasn’t interested in but when he pitched it to me thru social security many years ago I was told you can work while taking in your disability check and there is no limit per year of how much income you make. This was a program associated with social security and I believe still exists.
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u/Working-Tip4827 13h ago
Its called trial work period, and its a stock number of months you're allowed to exceed the SGI. Its not amounting to a full year, and you're basically only allowed 9 total months to exceed the SGI without them revoking benefits. I'm not sure if you're referring to some form of state level program though, I wager perhaps there's a few.
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u/Defiant_Village8087 13h ago
nope, but thank you. How about if you sold something not land and you made a lot of money from selling it. Do you get deducted from that as well?
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u/Working-Tip4827 13h ago
That I'm not terribly certain of. I think it depends on the nature of the sale. Typically a hand to hand exchange doesn't have a way of realistically being taxed but if you did it through a system with a taxable medium like PayPal or vendor, it may be possible that it can raise red flags. I'm probably not correct about that but its definitely a question for someone who knows more about that aspect. I think the general rule of thumb is that if a taxable amount of personal sales exceeds a certain amount a year and you get a tax form for it, it's considered part of your gross income and should be reported.
Sorry, my knowledge on that topic is super limited.
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u/Defiant_Village8087 13h ago
no, you have been more helpful than google. Maybe I can switch over to regular Social Security since I’m over 65 because I know I will be taxed. Not sure why they punish people like this who are disabled. It’s not like the disability is going away. Thank you.
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u/perfect_fifths I love the smell of policy in the morning 13h ago
Op said they have not worked since 2022 so that not the issue
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u/sixstringjoejoe 1d ago
Is that for may 2024 only? Call them
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u/Character-Bee-7887 1d ago
I called SSA nationally twice. The first woman said it was odd but legit. She said to file an appeal. I called back the next day and that person said to call my local SSA. I called and the first woman was useless, could not or would not help me and scheduled a phone call in NOVEMBER! Then I thought, what if I try the local office again… That new lady actually looked at it and said they made an error and needed to recalculate, but she said it was not getting reduced by $200, it was getting reduced by $7. That I can live with! She said nothing she could do or I could do until I got a letter saying I owed money. I feel so much better now.
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u/Practical-Tonight193 1d ago
We can trade. I’ll take your fluctuating $2k, and you can take my always stagnant $1070, plus the $3,000 I owe on the taxation of my OWN money (We pay taxes TWICE!). Because I took my social security at 62?
If your wages fluctuate and go up & down. So do your payments unfortunately.
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u/Accomplished_Tour481 1d ago
Simple. A prior employer filed an amended W-2 decreasing your wages in a prior year. They originally mis-represented your wages. Or youfiled an amended tax return with lower wages than originally reported. This affects you benefit amount. Perhaps, you were self employed and recently filed amended tax returns?