Sir,

I am 63, began receiving my SS retirement benefit at 62, and filed a SSA-521 to voluntarily withdraw my benefits earlier this summer (2021) as I intended to return to full-time employment. I received a letter from the SSA two months ago stating that in order to withdraw my benefits, I would need to repay them first the total amount of benefits I had received. As this was a rather large sum, I decided to NOT do this. Now, in November, I have not received my SSA benefit payment, and I see that the SSA has suspended my benefits beginning in October 2021.

They have not contacted me about repayment, and now I wish to reinstate my benefits. Is there a form I need to submit or something else I need to do? Thank you for your reply.

Respectfully,

Hi. Your first step needs to be to call Social Security to find out why your benefits have been suspended. If it's because they are acting on your earlier withdrawal request and if you no longer wish to withdraw your claim, then you'll probably need to cancel your request for withdrawal. Cancelling a withdrawal request must be done in writing and be signed, but there's not a specific form for that purpose. Social Security prefers using form SSA-795 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-795.pdf) for requests such as cancelling a request for withdrawal.

On the other hand, if your benefits have been suspended because you're working or Social Security thinks you're working, then you may need to update your earnings estimate in order to get your benefits reinstated. Changing your earnings estimate does not need to be done in writing and can be done by phone.

Best, Jerry