I recently turned 70 and March 2019 was my first month to draw on my earnings...For some reason I received my social security which was 1391...with a 135.50 Medicare deducted from it and also a 75.10 deduction for taxes.. so my payment came to 1168.10. They also sent me a payment of 997.90 which is what I have been receiving as a spousal benefit. I am confused about still receiving the spousal benefit I thought when I started drawing on my own at 70 I would not receive the 997.
I have looked at what I will receive for my May payment and it is the same...1168.10 plus 997?
I hope you can help me I am pretty confused but glad I am receiving a double payment...(no actually I know if this is a error I am sure they will catch it and then I will have to pay...so I really am not sure what to do about it...)

Hi,

I can't be sure without more information, but from your description it certainly sounds like you are being paid incorrectly. Assuming that your wife is living, if your own Social Security retirement benefit rate is more than 50% of her primary insurance amount (PIA) then your spousal benefit should have stopped when you started drawing your own benefits.

I assume you filed an application for your Social Security retirement benefits, because they wouldn't have started automatically without you filing for them. If you had previously filed for and suspended your retirement benefits they would have automatically started at age 70, but in that case you wouldn't have been eligible for a full spousal benefit while your own benefits were in suspense.

In any event, you'll probably want to report the apparent erroneous payments to Social Security as soon as possible to prevent any further overpayment of benefits that you would be expected to repay. Also, failure to report a Social Security payment that you know to be incorrect could subject you a fine or imprisonment.

Best, Jerry