I am 66 and want to file and suspend until I’m 70. How do I do this? I went online to file but there is no where to suspend. I called the SSA twice but they have no idea what I’m talking about.

Hi,

If you don't want to draw benefits until age 70, I can't conceive of any reason why you'd want to apply now and suspend your benefits. It would be much simpler to simply wait until you're about to turn age 70 to apply, and you'll still accrue delayed retirement credits (DRC) if you wait to apply as opposed to filing now and suspending your benefits..

Essentially, all of the potential advantageous to filing for and suspending benefits were eliminated by the 2015 Social Security amendments (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/claiming.html). Filing for and suspending benefits can also potentially prevent a person from being able to collect auxiliary or survivor benefits. And, the earliest that you can reinstate benefit payments once they're in suspense is effective with the month after you request reinstatement. If you instead simply wait to apply for benefits when you want to start drawing, you would have much more flexibility with regard to choosing when to start drawing your benefits. Therefore, since April 30 2016, filing for and suspending benefits as opposed to simply waiting to apply until you want to start drawing your benefits offers no advantages and several potential disadvantages.

If in spite of all of the above, however, you do decide to apply for and suspend your benefits, you would do so by completing an application for Social Security retirement benefits in the normal manner and then including a statement in remarks that states that you wish to voluntarily suspend your benefits starting with your initial month of election to claim benefits. In other words, if you choose to start your benefits effective with October 2020, for example, your statement in remarks would say that you wish to voluntarily suspend your benefits effective with October 2020. You would also need to file your application in advance of the month you choose as your month of election to start benefits, because the earliest that you are allowed to suspend your benefits is effective with the month after the month in which you submit the request for suspension.

Best, Jerry