Hi Larry, I'm on social security disability and I was just wondering that if I do a work from home self employment , like on a website selling digital art that I make but I don't make any earnings, do I still need to report it to s.s or do I report it if I make a sale? Because its not a hourly or salary based its a purchase based I guess.
Thank you

Hi,

If what you're doing would be classified as self-employment for income tax purposes, then yes you'd need to report the activity to Social Security. Being self-employed means that you're involved in a trade or business, as opposed to a hobby, for example. Social Security's operations manual lists the factors that indicate the existence of a trade or business in the following reference: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0301802002.

Social Security needs to know details about any work that a Social Security disability (SSDI) beneficiary does in order to keep track of their trial work period (TWP) and to determine if any work they perform subsequent to the TWP is substantial gainful activity (SGA). If you are self-employed by definition and if you devote at least 80 hours in a month to your trade or business, it would count as a trial work month even if there's no income. Once you complete a 9-month TWP, Social Security must determine whether or not any subsequent work is considered SGA. Your work activity would not cause your SSDI benefits to stop unless you perform SGA after completing your TWP.

For more detailed information about working while receiving disability benefits, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf.

Best, Jerry