I retired 2016 officially at 62 years. I have enough credit in yearly estimates that Social Security used to send me of about $800. But I have yet to collect a penny yet. The letter I got is they cannot pay me because I was working 2016 and did not fill tax for that year. That was the only year I missed in over 25 years. So if I fix my 2016 tax obligation, are they going to recalculate my retirement from the year I retired or how are they going to calculate my retirement benefit.

Hi,

If you worked for wages in 2016 then your employer would have been responsible for withholding and paying the required Social Security taxes. As long as that was done Social Security would give you credit for those earnings when calculating your benefit rate even if you didn't file a tax return.

On the other hand if you were self-employed, then any required Social Security taxes are paid in the form of self-employment taxes paid when you file your tax return. Therefore, if your earnings in 2016 were from self-employment and you didn't file a tax return, then you wouldn't receive credit for your 2016 self-employment earnings when Social Security calculates your benefit rate.

Self-employment taxes must be paid within 3 years, 3 months and 15 days of the end of the tax year in question in order for the self-employment earnings to be creditable by Social Security. Therefore, you'd have to file a tax return and pay self-employment taxes for the year 2016 no later than April 15 2020 in order to receive Social Security credit for 2016 self-employment earnings.

Best, Jerry