I am one month older than my wife. Her FRA benefit is a little less that half of mine.
We will both be 64 and the end of 2018 and I am retiring in June 2018. I've already made too much this year so I would lose any benefit. I'd like to have my wife claim on her benefit in January 2019. I'll defer until my FRA. Would she be able to claim the spousal benefit based on my earnings when I claim my benefit

Hi,

Yes, but in that event she'd keep the reduction in her own benefit rate and she'd be deemed to be filing for spousal benefits as soon as she qualifies for those benefits. So, if you file for your benefits before your wife's full retirement age (FRA) her spousal rate would also be reduced.

For example, say Jane has a full retirement age rate (PIA) of $900 but files at age 64 and receives a reduced rate of $780. Jane's husband has a PIA of $2000 and he files for his benefits one month before Jane reaches her FRA of 66. Jane's unreduced spousal benefit would be calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of her husband's PIA, which in this example would be $100 (i.e. $2000/2 - $900). Jane's spousal rate would then be slightly reduced to $99 because she started drawing one month prior to FRA, and her spousal rate would then be added to her own reduced rate giving her a combined benefit amount of $879 (i.e. $780 + $99).

By the way, if you retire in June 2018 you could likely draw benefits starting as early as July 2018 if you chose to. An alternative monthly earnings test can be used in the initial year of a person's entitlement to benefits which would allow you to be paid for any month in which you earn $1420 or less regardless of how much you earn this year (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/rule.html).

I'm not recommending that you file this year, just clarifying the earnings test rules. You and your wife should strongly consider using our maximization software in order to explore and compare your options in order to determine your best overall filing strategy.

Best, Jerry