G. Reading Your Social Security Statement

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Social Security, Medicare and Government Pensions



Social Security: The Basics



The second page of your Statement shows dollar estimates of the benefits to

which you’d be entitled under the various Social

Security programs. As cautioned in the introductory paragraphs, these are only estimates.

The precise figures will not become available

until you actually claim your benefits. To arrive

at these estimates, they’ve guessed at how much

you’ll earn per year until you reach retirement

age—you can see their guess on the second-tolast line of this page. However, your earnings

could rise or fall dramatically in the years ahead.

Because of this uncertainty about the future, the

less time that elapses between when you receive

the estimates and when you actually claim your

benefits, the more accurate the estimates are

likely to be.

Page two.



If you look at the sample, the first sentence

next to “Retirement” reads “You have earned

enough credits to qualify for benefits.” This isn’t

mere boilerplate—this Statement would also tell

you if you had not earned enough credits. If you

hadn’t, the Statement would also tell you how

many more credits you needed to qualify.

The remainder of this Statement is largely

self-explanatory, or will be after you’ve read

other portions of this book. To figure out your

“full retirement age,” see Chapter 2, Section B2.

For how your continuing to work after reaching

full retirement age will increase your benefits,

see Chapter 2, Sections B and D. The Social

Security Disability program is explained in

Chapter 3, family benefits in Chapter 4, survivors benefits in Chapter 5, and finally Medicare

benefits in Chapters 11 through 14.

You’ll note that no estimate is given for the

family benefits that you’ll receive—that’s because these vary not only with the amount of

your retirement benefits but also with the num-



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ber of your minor children. Also, no figure is

given for Medicare benefits—that’s because the

key issue is simply whether or not you’ve earned

enough credits to qualify for coverage, which

the Statement does tell you.

At the bottom of page two, make sure that

your name appears exactly as it does on your

Social Security card and that your birthdate and

Social Security number are listed correctly.

The third page of your Statement actually breaks down your earnings history year by year, for your entire working life

back to 1950. Any earnings before 1950 will be

summarized on a single line. As explained in

Section E, above, this history may not reflect

every dollar you’ve earned—it includes only

income on which you’ve paid Social Security

taxes. Also, if you earned more than the maximum taxable earnings during a particular year,

your earnings record will show only that maximum amount. (This is basically fair, since you

wouldn’t have paid any taxes into the system for

amounts over these limits.)

Page three.



You’ll notice that the earnings record is broken into two columns, one titled “Your Taxed

Social Security Earnings” and the other “Your

Taxed Medicare Earnings.” For most people,

these two columns will contain the exact same

numbers. However, some people will see higher

numbers in the Medicare column. That’s because since 1994 all earned income, even over

and above the Social Security maximum, has

been taxed for Medicare purposes. People who

earned more than the maximum taxable income

since 1994 will have paid more into the Medicare system than into the regular Social Security

system.



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Social Security, Medicare and Government Pensions



Social Security: The Basics



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their earnings reported under both unmarried

and married names.



Regularly review your records. Your benefits



estimate is based on the average of your earnings

over your entire lifetime. Your earnings in the last

few years before you claim retirement may be

higher than most of your earlier working years, and

if so will increase your average, and your benefits,

significantly. For that reason, it is important to request an official statement every few years to keep

track of your changing benefits estimate.



H. Correcting Your

Record

Mistakes do occur in official earnings records.

Social Security estimates that employers make

mistakes in wage reports about 4% of the time.

Social Security easily clears up most of these

errors: misspelled names, transposed numbers.

But one dollar of every $100 reported to Social

Security fails to be credited to the correct

worker’s record.

If you believe a mistake has been made on

your record, you can do something about it even

if it concerns wages from many years past.



1. Common Sources of Errors

The problem of unreported earnings occurs

more frequently with people who have used

more than one name—usually women who have

changed their names when they married, or

married and divorced, and who may have had



The problem also appears to be more common for people whose family names the Social

Security computer may have trouble identifying

properly. Examples include:

• hyphenated names, such as Watson-Jones

• names with spaces between one part and

another, such as de la France, and

• names in which the identifying family portion does not come at the end as in Anglo

constructions, such as Park Chee Ho or

Martina Rosales Rincon.



2. How to Spot Errors

To locate possible errors, start by checking the

Social Security number on the earnings statement to make sure it is your earnings that are

being calculated.

Next, check the amounts listed in columns

two and three of page three with your own

records of earnings. You may have records of

your earnings in your income tax forms or pay

stubs. Your place of work may also have pay

records for a number of years. (See “Locating

Your Earnings Records,” below.) Note that the

amounts of your reported income listed in this

column include only earned income from covered employment and do not include any income which is not wages, salary, or self-employment. This listed amount also does not include

any self-employment income before 1951. Nor

does it include any income over the amount

listed for any one year in “Yearly Dollar Limit on

Earnings Credits” in Section E, above. Even if

you made more than that figure during the year,

you got credit only for the maximum earnings

amount listed.



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Social Security, Medicare and Government Pensions



Locating Your Earnings Records



If you find what you believe is an error

caused by your current employer, ask the

payroll person at your workplace to verify your

Social Security earnings for the year in question

and to give you a copy of paperwork showing

those earnings.

If the earnings were for a previous employer, ask the personnel office there for

records of your earnings. If it no longer has

your records, or if the earnings were from selfemployment, try to locate among your own

records some written evidence of what you

contend was your actual covered income for

that year: tax returns, W-2 forms, pay stubs,

bank deposit statements.



If you would rather speak with someone in

person, call your local Social Security office and

make an appointment to see someone there, or

drop into the office during regular business

hours. If you drop in, be prepared to wait, perhaps as long as an hour or two, before you get to

see a representative. Bring with you two copies

of your benefits statement and whatever evidence supports your claim of higher income.

That way, you can leave one copy with the Social Security worker. Write down the name of

the person with whom you speak so that you

can reach the same person when you follow up.

The process to correct errors is slow. It may

take several months to have the changes made in

your record. Even after Social Security says that

it has corrected your record, be sure to request

another benefits statement, just to double check.



One Year Correction Without

Evidence of Income



2. How to Request a

Correction

When you have evidence of your covered earnings in the year or years for which you think

Social Security has made an error, call Social

Security’s helpline at 800-772-1213, Monday

through Friday from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern

time. (This is the line that takes all kinds of

Social Security questions, and it is often

swamped, so be patient. It is best to call early in

the morning or late in the afternoon, late in the

week, and late in the month.) Have all your

documents handy when you speak with a representative.



Social Security Administration policy allows

you to get credit for one year’s earnings—in

certain limited circumstances—even if you

cannot come up with written evidence of those

earnings. The rule applies only to earnings from

1978 on.

The rule applies if Social Security has a

record of your earnings from an employer in a

year immediately before or after the year you

want corrected, and the earnings you are

claiming for that year are consistent with the

year just before or after it. In such cases, Social

Security can give you credit for earnings in the

amount you claim for that year even though

neither you nor the employer has written

evidence of those earnings.



Social Security: The Basics



I.



U.S. Citizens’ Rights to

Receive Benefits While

Living Abroad



If you are a U.S. citizen living in another country, you are theoretically entitled to the same

Social Security benefits as if you lived in the

United States. However, there are a few countries to which the Social Security Administration

simply cannot send payments, regardless of any

particular individual’s right to benefits. These

countries include Cuba, North Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, or any country formerly part of

the Soviet Union (except Russia, Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, to which payment

may be sent). Your money won’t just disappear

into a black hole, however. If you go to another

country where Social Security can send payments, you can ask them to send you a check

for all the benefits you’re owed there.



J.



Receiving Benefits as a

Noncitizen



It is increasingly common for people who are not

U.S. citizens to live and work here for long periods

of time. This section explains your rights to collect

Social Security benefits if you are not a U.S. citizen,

whether you’re living in the United States now or

have since left to live in another country.



1 / 23



the same rules as U.S. citizens—if they are lawfully in the United States. For example, you

might benefit from this if you:

• were not a U.S. citizen during some or all of

the time you or your family member worked

in the United States, but have since become a

U.S. citizen, or

• are not a U.S. citizen, but are a lawful permanent U.S. resident or have another immigration status permitting you to be lawfully

present in the United States.



2. Non-U.S. Citizens Living

Abroad

Many non-U.S. citizens live and work for a time

in the United States, paying Social Security taxes

and earning enough work credits to qualify for

benefits for themselves and their families. However, many of these people ultimately leave the

United States. Their ability to collect earned

Social Security benefits after departing depends

in large part on whether the United States has

entered into agreements with their home countries. If you’ve formerly worked in the United

States, you need to look at three things to figure

out your eligibility for benefits, including:

• your country of citizenship

• the country where you’re living when you

request Social Security benefits, and

• the type of benefit you’re requesting.



1. Noncitizens Living in the

U.S.

Noncitizens living in the United States are entitled to all the Social Security benefits that they

or their spouse or parents have earned—under



What if you begin receiving benefits while

you’re in the United States, but later move

abroad? If you don’t qualify under one of the

situations described below, your benefits will be

cut off six months after you leave the United

States.



1 / 24



Social Security, Medicare and Government Pensions



a. Countries Whose Citizens Are

Entitled to Collect U.S. Benefits



c. Eligibility Based on Type of Benefits

to Be Received



If you are a citizen of any of the following countries, you may receive any Social Security benefit

to which you are entitled, regardless of what

country you’re actually living in:



If you are not a citizen of the United States or of

any of the countries listed in Subsection a,

above, you may still be entitled to receive retirement, dependents, or survivors benefits.



Austria

Belgium

Canada

Chile

Finland

France

Germany



Greece

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

South Korea

Luxembourg



Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom



b. Countries Whose Residents Are

Entitled to Benefits



You may also receive any benefit to which you

are entitled if you are a legal resident—but not

necessarily a citizen—of any of the following

countries:

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Canada

Chile

Finland

France



Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

South Korea

Luxembourg

Netherlands



Norway

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom



Also note that if you live in, but are not a

citizen of, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden,

or Switzerland, you may receive dependents or

survivors benefits (described in Chapters 4 and

5) only if the worker on whose Social Security

record you would receive benefits is a citizen of

the United States or of the country where you

now live.



Your eligibility for retirement benefits based

on your own work record (as described in

Chapter 2) depends on whether you are a citizen of any one of more than 100 other countries. To find out whether your country of citizenship is currently on the lists (these lists

change from time to time), and the particular

rules that might apply to you, call Social Security at 800-772-1213. Request a copy of pamphlet #05-10137, Your Payments While You Are

Outside the United States. You can also view the

pamphlet online at www.ssa.gov/international.

Your eligibility for dependents or survivors

benefits (described in Chapters 4 and 5) depends on any one of the following being true:

• You lived in the United States for at least five

years, during which time you had the family

relationship with the worker on whose

record you would claim dependents or survivors benefits.

• If you are claiming benefits based on your

parents’ work record, your parents lived in

the United States for at least five years while

they were married.

• You were initially eligible for benefits before

January 1, 1985.

• You are entitled to benefits based on the

record of a worker who died while in U.S.

military service or as a result of a serviceconnected injury or illness.