I am receiving SSDI since 05/2007. Since 2009 till tax year 2016, I pay an self-employment tax based on self-employment income between $5500 - $9500 per year.
My question is: Am I eligible for an higher SSDI Benefit amount based on the earnings between 2009 - 2016? I read somewhere, that the income can be added to my former lifetime average? What does the law says about that?

Hi,

Social Security disability benefit (SSDI) rates are calculated using an average of a variable number of the disabled person's highest years of wage-indexed earnings. The number of years used in the average can be as few as 2 or as many as 35, depending on the person's age at the time they qualified for SSDI benefits.

If your earnings in any year(s) after you became eligible for SSDI were higher than one or more of the years previously being used to calculate your benefit rate, then your SSDI rate could be recomputed to increase the monthly amount. This type of recomputation is normally automatic, but you could contact Social Security and request a manual recomputation of your benefit rate.

By the way, I assume that you are aware of the limits on work and earnings while receiving SSDI (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10095.pdf). Earnings averaging below $1170 per month will generally not cause you to lose your disability benefits, but higher earnings could.

Best, Jerry