Hi- this is my exact question, that you answered in 2015(first part of the question): https://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2015/07/22/social-security-qa-aft.... It appears that SSA incorrectly told me that I couldn't do that. So I started getting my FRA amount in 2021(dob July 1955), and when I called , they said that couldn't be stopped. I have started to do Roth conversions, as I have a large IRA, and this is making 85% of my SSA taxable. How do I go about correcting this issue with SSA? And, is my original SS Disability claim basically automatically terminated at FRA, no matter what? Thank you!
Hi. You can voluntarily suspend your Social Security retirement benefits between your full retirement age (FRA) and age 70 in order to earn delayed retirement credits (DRC), regardless of whether or not you previously received Social Security disability benefits. If you need to prove that to Social Security to get them to honor your request, you can refer them to the third example in section A.1. of the following section of their operations manual: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0202409110.
The problem is that you can't voluntarily suspend your benefits retroactively, so if you submit a request for voluntary suspension of your benefits to Social Security in January 2023, for example, the earliest that your benefits could be suspended is effective with your benefit payment for February 2023. If you previously asked Social Security to suspend your benefits and if they didn't honor your request, you'd need evidence that you submitted such a request in order to get them to rectify their error. That's why, even though voluntary suspension requests can be made either orally or in writing, you should always submit such requests in writing and ask Social Security for a receipt.
Your application for Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits isn't terminated when you reach FRA, but your SSDI benefits are automatically converted to Social Security retirement benefits at that time. SSDI benefits cannot be paid to a person for any months starting with the month they reach FRA.
Best, Jerry
