I am confused about how much I can make on the Trial Work Period. And I am not even sure if I am still on my TWP. I became disabled in 2005. I did not try to work until I moved around and landed where in a place where I started taking on more debt. I had to work part-time. Some months I was making good money--others not more than the TWP amount they listed for that year. But I now see on some posts that you CAN make any amount in the TWP and not lose your benefits. Could I even make up to $2000 and not lose my benefits? For several months? I was always under the impression that this was going to mean I was beyond TWP earnings and then in Substantial Gainful Employment Earnings--and because of THAT--my benefits would stop. I worried that some jobs were going to give me a bonus and this would put my earnings over the hourly rate I budgeted to stay in a safe zone to earn enough to keep my income secure. Do they consider a bonus part of the earnings? I suppose it is. I am not sure if the part-time work I attempted to do in 2014 and 2015 still counts towards my TWP? Esp now that it is 2018. It was only a couple months here and there--and --as I said not many of the months earned more than the TWP amount for those years. Do I get a new nine months? Thank you for your advice.

Hi,

There is no limit on the amount that you can earn during your 9-month trial work period (TWP). The months counted toward your TWP don't have to be consecutive, although to complete your TWP you must have 9 TWP months within a 60 month period. For example:
Bill becomes entitled to Social Security disability benefits (SSDI) in January 2014. He starts a job in June 2015, but only works in the summer months earning $3000 per month. Bill returns to this job for the next 2 years, completing his TWP in August 2017 (i.e. TWP months = June, July & August of 2015, 2016 & 2017). After that, Bill would need to earn no more than the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level, which is currently set at $1180 for non-blind individuals in 2018, or else his benefits would be subject to suspense and eventual termination (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf).

In another example, Bob becomes entitled to SSDI in January 2010. He starts a job in June 2012, but only works 3 months earning $3000 per month. Bob then works another job for the first 3 months of 2015 earning $4000 per month, and another job for the last 3 months of 2017 earning $2000 per month. In this example, Bob's TWP is not yet completed because there was more than a 60 month gap between his work in the summer of 2012 and his work at the end of 2017. So, Bob would still have 3 more months remaining in his TWP.

Bonuses do normally count as earnings, and are considered earned in the month(s) that you performed the work to earn the bonus. However, if you receive the bonus in a subsequent month, Social Security will not know when the bonus was earned and will likely count it in the month of payment unless you explain the circumstances to them.

You don't want to be guessing with regard to where you stand with regard to your TWP. I would suggest contacting Social Security to check on which months they are counting as your TWP months, and remember to account for any recent earnings that they may not yet have counted.

Best, Jerry