My husband turned 62 last month and will be applying for early retirement social security benefits (on the advice of our CPA). He hasn't worked since the end of 2014 but would still like to. If he does retire to work it would most likely be in a consulting position and he would be self employed paying both parts of social security (employer and employee). If he returns to work could he suspend his benefits and would he continue earning credits?
Thank you.

Hi,

Your husband couldn't voluntarily suspend his benefits prior to his full retirement age (FRA), although if he returns to work and earns more than the Social Security exempt amount at least some of his benefits would likely need to be involuntarily withheld (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/whileworking2.html). And yes, your husband would continue earning credits if he has earnings on which he pays Social Security taxes. Those earnings would only increase his benefit rate, however, if he earns more than in one of his previous 35 highest wage-indexed earnings years (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10070.pdf).

Before your husband files, you and he should strongly consider using the maximization software available on this website in order to compare your options and determine your best overall filing strategy. Your CPA may not have considered some of the downsides to your husband filing at age 62, such as the fact that it will significantly limit the widow's rate that you could draw on his record in the event of his death.

Best, Jerry