Do not have enough credits to draw. Wishing to draw from husband. What is the max I can make on retirement to qualify for spouse social security?
Thank you for your time.

Hi. I'm not sure if you're referring to the Social Security earnings test or the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision. If you apply for spousal benefits prior to your full retirement age (FRA) there's a limit on how much you can earn and still draw all of your benefits. In 2021, the exempt amount of earnings for people who won't reach FRA until after this year is $18,960. For each $2 that a person earns in excess of that amount, $1 of their benefits would need to be withheld. The maximum amount you could earn and still be paid at least some benefits depends on your spousal benefit rate.

The GPO provision requires offsetting a person's Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by 2/3rds of the amount of any pension they receive that's based on their work for a governmental agency in the U.S. where their earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes. The maximum non-covered government pension that you could receive and still be paid at least some spousal benefits also depends on your spousal benefit rate. A person's spousal benefit would be offset to zero if their non-covered government pension is at least 1.5 times as much as their spousal benefit rate.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is full programmed to handle calculations involving both the earnings test and the GPO provision, so you may wan to strongly consider using the software to fully analyze your options.

Best, Jerry