I am a widow and will turn 62 this year. My husband passed away at age 58. I would like to take my own social security benefit this year at 62, it amounts to $7428 per year and then at my FRA of 66 take my widow's benefit which would be $31,980 per year. I do receive a pension from my husband's company so taking my small benefit early wouldn't be a hardship. What I have read is that I need to "restrict the scope of application" to do this but it is unclear where I would do this. Also, I realize that I would exceed the threshold of income allowed and that 85% of my social security benefit would be taxed at my current tax rate. Can I have the tax withheld so that I don't have a tax bill for social security at the end of the year? Any information that you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Mary

Hi Mary,

I'm sorry for your loss.

To restrict your application you can add sentence in the remarks section stating something like: 'I wish to exclude widow's benefits from the scope of this application.', or 'I wish to restrict the scope of my application to retirement benefits only.' If you file in person or by phone with a Social Security representative, you just need to tell them what you want to do and then be sure to check your copy of your application to make sure that it contains a statement like the ones mentioned above.

And yes, you can have federal income taxes withheld from your benefits. You can request a withholding rate of either 7%, 10%, 12% or 22% by completing a form W-4V (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxwithold.html).

Best, Jerry