Greetings. After having lived in Montreal for thirty plus years, I moved to the U S., and worked for a major airline. After early retirement, I started collecting SS at age 62. I have since moved back to Montreal to take care of my elderly mom. Am I able to work here, and stay below the allowable earning of 18900. and collect SS? Regards, Marco

Hi Marco. If you're at least full retirement age (FRA) you can be paid all of your benefits no matter how much you work and earn. But, if you're still under FRA, a foreign work test (FWT) would apply. The foreign work test allows beneficiaries who are below FRA to be paid only for months in which they work outside of the U.S. for no more than 45 hours. The amount earned is irrelevant.

Therefore, regardless of your total earnings if you haven't yet reached FRA and if you work in Canada, you can only be paid U.S. Social Security benefits for any months that you don't work more than 45 hours (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0302605005).

Best, Jerry