Ask Larry

How Will My Delayed Retirement Credits Be Calculated?

I am 67 and was eligible to start benefits at 66. I now want to file for benefits. my birthday is in march. if I request benefits to start in September will I get the extra credits 1 year + (4%) for the extra 6 months I delayed. the ssa agent told me I would only get the 1 full year of delay. is this correct. the ssa web site states 67+ 6 months is 112% .8% for year 1and 4% for the last 6 months. which is correct

Hi,

If you start drawing your Social Security retirement benefits effective 18 months after the month you reached full retirement age (FRA), your benefit rate will ultimately be 12% higher than your FRA rate. However, if you start drawing effective with September 2019 you will initially only receive credit for the delayed retirement credits (DRC) you earned through December 2018. Your DRCs for the months January through August of 2019 wouldn't be creditable until effective with the payment you're due for January 2020, and it could take Social Security up to 2 years after that to get around to actually processing the increase. They would eventually pay you any accrued back pay due, though.

So, if you follow your plan your benefit rate for the months of September through December 2019 will be 6.66% (i.e. 10 months x 2/3rds of 1%) higher than your FRA rate, not 12%. You wouldn't be due the full 12% of DRCs until your payment due for January 2020. You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully explore and compare all of your options so that you can choose the best possible strategy for claiming your benefits.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Jun 9 2019 - 9:43am
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