Dear Larry,
I am 68 years old and married. I recently filed for social security and have received my award notices already for myself and my wife. I would like to reconsider this and wanted to change my filing to back date it 6 months from the current month, September and receive a lump sum plus whatever monthly benefit I am entitled to going forward. What form do I use to do this and how do I fill it out? The SS Agent told me to use Form SSA-561-U2 Request for Reconsideration, but this seems like the wrong form. Can you help please. Thank you, Anthony

Hi Anthony. There's no specific form for that purpose, but I would suggest using an SSA-795 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-795.pdf). On the form you need to ask Social Security to: a) reopen the determination of your claim; and b) change your month of election (MOE) to start benefits to whichever month you want to change to. You should also state that you understand the effect of your decision, which is that your permanent monthly benefit rate will be lower because you're choosing to start your benefits earlier (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204047#c).

You can elect to start your benefits up to 6 months prior to the month you filed your original application for benefits. However, starting your benefits 6 months earlier will result in a 4% cut in your permanent monthly benefit rate. Before changing your MOE, you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze all of your options so that you can choose your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry