Dear Larry:

I started to collect my social Security in April of 2018.So far this year I have made $ 11574.09, $ 1148.02 of this total came from the end of 2017, and will count as earned income for 2018. I was payed for it in 2018 but earned it in 2017. What total amount of money can I earn from July 25th 2018, to December 31st 2018 without the SSA taking 1 dollar for every 2 dollars I make over an about for 2018? And does the money I earned in 2017, well before my 62nd birthday (February 10th) count in the earned income from wages? I retired after over 26 years at the Job that I made $1148.02 , and now only have one employer..What is the exact amount more that I may earn without drawing a cut from SSI?

Hi,

The 2018 exempt amount is $17040, so if your 2018 earnings amount to date is $11574.09 you could earn up to an additional $5465.91 this year without losing any benefits to the earnings test. Whether or not the amount you earned in 2017 that was paid in 2018 could be excluded depends on the circumstances involved. You may want to read the following Social Security publication to see if that's possible in your case: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10063.pdf.

Best, Jerry