Hello,
I live most of my professional career in Israel. I worked in the US for 5 years. Currently I have only 20 Social Security credits. My wife as well. We both over 67 years old. We are filing every year Tax Report. We pay all the taxes in Israel , so we dont have any tax return or Tax payments in the US.
My questions:
1. Currently we both are offered to have a job in the US and we can start paying SS and earn credits. Can we do it at our age 67 and I am 69??
2. Can I pay retroactive to SS - For how far back and how can I do it?
Thank you for your answer.

Hi,

Yes, you can earn Social Security credits (https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/QC.html) for Social Security covered work regardless of how old you are when you have the earnings. You cannot, however, voluntarily pay Social Security taxes in order to receive Social Security credits or a higher benefit rate. You must actually have either Social Security covered wages or self-employment earnings in order to earn Social Security credits.

The only way that you could potentially receive Social Security credits for past years is if you had U.S. taxable self-employment earnings in those years and you haven't yet paid the appropriate self-employment taxes on those earnings. However, you could only receive such credits if you file the proper tax returns and pay the appropriate self-employment taxes within 3 years, 3 months and 15 days of the end of the year for which you're reporting self-employment earnings.

Best, Jerry