I retired January 3, 2016. I started receiving SS benefits. I received a letter from SSA that says I need to return a large sum of SS money since I made more than $17,000 in 2016. I was on-call on January 1st and actually worked a few hours that day. The remainder of that money was from my PTO (paid-time-off/ vacation) pay. My question: Is PTO considered "wages earned" ? Can I submit my 2016 W-2 and show the number of hours & money I received for PTO ?

Thank you

Hi,

If your paid time off was earned and available to you prior to 2016, it can probably be excluded from counting toward the 2016 Social Security earnings test limit (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0302505030). You may need to submit to Social Security pay slips or a statement from your former employer showing when the PTO was earned and available. You might also want to consider filing a formal appeal of the overpayment to make sure that more than one person looks at the facts of your case.

Best, Jerry