I was trying to put my wife on my SS i went to her SS sign in just to see if i could do it now it wants me to complete page by certain dates i am afraid to do more than i have done do i need to go to SS office and fix this or can i still sign her up for mine. She is 65 and working she is going to work till age 70 she will be 66 in June 2019 can you help thank you

Hi,

If you've started an online application but it hasn't been submitted, I believe it will expire without causing any harm if you just leave it unsubmitted. I'm not that familiar with the actual online application process, however, so you may want to check with Social Security to make sure that's correct.

By the way, when your wife does file for benefits she'll need to apply herself. You can't file an application on her behalf unless she's incompetent or unable to file herself due to a mental or physical impairment. You could assist her with the completion of her application, though.

Since your wife was born prior to January 2 1954, if you're drawing your benefits she would have the option of filing just for spousal benefits only at her full retirement age of 66 while letting her own retirement benefit rate grow until age 70. I don't have enough information about your circumstances to know if that's her best option, so you may want to strongly consider using our maximization software to determine her best filing strategy before doing anything further.

If your wife files for spousal benefits effective with any month prior to the month she reaches age 66, she'll be deemed to also be applying for her own retirement benefits. In that case she'll only receive what is essentially the higher of the two rates, and her benefit amount will be reduced for age. Assuming that's not what she wants to do, your wife shouldn't be filing for benefits at this time.

Best, Jerry