Larry, I read your article from 2015, regarding retroactive benefits. I retired in July of 2017 at age 64. This month (January 2019) I received a lump sum of money from SS and told they were moving my retirement date from July '17 back to Jan '17, therefore reducing my benefits for the rest of my life. I went to SS to ask that they reverse their decision, so now I wait 3-4 months to hear whether or not they'll reverse. I understand from your article that one has to be beyond FRA, I was not, so they're doing this to whomever's name is pulled out of a hat. In your experience with this, has SS reversed their decision to make a retirement retroactive or am I going to be stuck with their decision? I was not asked to sign a waiver for this, it was dropped in my lap out of the blue
Hi,
When you file for Social Security retirement benefits, one of the questions on the application asks to you choose when you want to start drawing benefits. Depending on whether you filed online or not, one option is a flexible month of election wherein rather than specifying a particular month you instead choose to start drawing benefits beginning with the earliest possible month. I can only surmise from your description of events that that's the option you chose, possibly unintentionally if you filed for benefits in person or by phone. Still, though, your copy of your application should show your month of election option.
When a flexible month of election is chosen, it authorizes Social Security to change your month of entitlement to a different month if it would allow more initial benefits to be paid. However, since you filed for benefits prior to full retirement age (FRA) Social Security couldn't move your month of entitlement to any month prior to the month in which your application was filed. So, if they moved your month of entitlement to January 2017, I assume that you either filed then or established a protective filing date in that month.
The vast majority of cases in which Social Security changes a person's month of entitlement involve the Social Security earnings test. When a person is still working and files prior to FRA, their optimal month of entitlement may depend on how much they end up earning in their year of filing. If it turns out when the year is over and the person's exact earnings are known that the person could be paid more benefits if their month of entitlement to was moved to an earlier month, Social Security will do that automatically if the person chose a flexible month of election option.
You are normally allowed to change your month of election to a different month, but only to the extent permitted by Social Security regulations. For example, Social Security regulations preclude a person who files for benefits prior to FRA from choosing a month of election prior to their month of filing, so you wouldn't be allowed to change your month of election to a month earlier than would be permitted by your filing date. I would think that Social Security should allow you to reverse the change that they made, but I don't know the full facts of your case so I can't say for sure. Nor do I have enough details about your case to know whether or not changing your month of election back to the way it was originally would be your best option. If possible, you may want to discuss your case with a Social Security claims representative or technical expert, or you could use our software to compare the your month of election options.
Best, Jerry
