Ask Larry

Can I Collect Railroad Retirement Benefits And Stiil Receive Delayed Retirement Credits (DRC) When I Switch To Social Security?

I am fra and qualify for RRB divorced spousal benefits. I plan to keep working until age 70 to collect my maximum benefits with delayed credits on my own SSI. Can I collect the RRB and switch to my SSI when I reach 70 and still receive the delayed credits. I have contacted both RRB and SSI and I am getting conflicting answers from both agencies.The best that I can figure is that my SSI will be higher than my RRB. Thank you

Hi. Yes, your Social Security retirement benefit rate can still be increased by delayed retirement credits (DRC) for any months that you don't collect Social Security retirement benefits between your full retirement age (FRA) and age 70, even if you're collecting Railroad Retirement (RR) benefits during that time. As you're apparently aware, though, once you claim your Social Security benefits your Tier 1 RR benefits will be offset dollar for dollar by the amount of your Social Security benefit.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Apr 8 2023 - 6:44am
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