Hi- I am collecting Social Security .since age 70 and am still working full time. I see that SS is still deducting about $8,000- per year from my check. Since I am collecting, this does not seem fair. Is this correct? Also, my wife of 41 years is now 65, going on 66, and has barely worked over her lifetime. Should she wait until she reaches 70 years of age to collect under my SS benefits or collect at 66 under my benefits? When she collects under either scenario, will it decrease my monthly benefit? Thank you.

Hi,

Let me answer your second question first since it's the most critical. No, if your wife is eligible for spousal benefits she should absolutely not wait until age 70 to start drawing those benefits. Spousal benefits do not get any higher if a person waits past their full retirement age (FRA) to start drawing their benefits. If your wife was born in 1955, her FRA would be at age 66 & 2 months.

Therefore, if your wife isn't eligible for benefits based on her own earnings, or if her own benefit rate would be significantly less than 50% of your primary insurance amount (PIA), the latest that your wife would want to apply for benefits is at her FRA. By the way, your PIA would be equal to the amount you would be receiving if you had started drawing your benefits at FRA. Furthermore, if your wife qualifies for spousal benefits from your account, it will have no adverse effect on your benefits.

With regard to your first question, the answer is yes. You must continue to pay Social Security taxes on earnings that are subject to those taxes, regardless of your age or whether or not you're drawing Social Security benefits. Your ongoing earnings may or may not cause your benefit rate to increase, depending on how your current earnings compare to your past earnings. Social Security retirement benefits are based on an average of a person's highest 35 years of Social Security covered wage-indexed earnings, so additional years of earnings only increase a person's benefit rate if they're higher than one or more of the 35 years currently being used to calculate their benefit rate.

Best, Jerry