In filing for SSDI; If someone is limited to making $1,180/month, and they make $975/month, but have received a profit-sharing check of around $750 for one (1) month only, will that be counted against them? I know it's per month and not year. Does SS only get quarterly and annual reports? I've been assured that it's OK and they don't have anything to worry about, but don't want to risk not getting the SSDI. It's been almost 2 years and the hearing is in December. Thank you, Linda

Hi Linda,

When deciding whether or not a person's earnings are substantial gainful activity (SGA), Social Security looks at their average monthly earnings. So, if your profit sharing is considered as earnings and will be reported on a W-2 form, the profit sharing income will be included in the averaging. Whether or not that would cause your average monthly earnings to exceed the SGA level would depend on the period of time covered by the profit sharing payment.

For example, say Sara earns $975 per month and receives an annual bonus or profit sharing payment of $750. Her earnings for the year would then total $12450 (i.e. (12 x $975) + $750), which would be an average of $1037.50 per month (i.e. $12450/12). Since that's below the current SGA guideline of $1180, Sara's earnings would almost certainly not be considered as SGA.

On the other hand, say in the same example above that Sara's bonus was for work that she performed in the first quarter of the year. In that case, Social Security might decide that Sara had performed SGA because her earnings for the first 3 months of the year averaged $1225 per month (i.e. ($750 + (3 x $975))/3).

Social Security normally only receives reports of a person's annual earnings, but they can usually obtain monthly earnings information from employers when needed in order to make an SGA determination.

Best, Jerry