Can I Collect Spousal Benefits and Still Work?

Yes, you can keep working while collecting spousal benefits, but if you’re under full retirement age the Social Security Administration will temporarily withhold part of your check once your wages cross an annual limit. For 2026, that limit is $24,480, and Social Security withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above it. The withheld money isn’t gone: once you reach full retirement age, your monthly payment is recalculated upward to credit the months that were held back. Collecting spousal benefits while working is common, and the rules below decide how much of your check actually lands in your account each month.

2026 Earnings Limits

The annual earnings test under 42 U.S.C. § 403 applies to anyone drawing Social Security benefits — spousal benefits included — before full retirement age.¹ Two thresholds matter in 2026:

If you’re under full retirement age for the entire year, you can earn up to $24,480. Above that, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 you earn.
In the year you reach full retirement age, the limit rises to $65,160, and the withholding softens to $1 for every $3 over. Only earnings from months before your birthday month count.

Both figures are adjusted for inflation each year, up from $23,400 and $62,160 in 2025.²

A concrete example: you’re 63 and earn $34,480 from a job in 2026. That’s $10,000 over the limit, so Social Security withholds $5,000 of your spousal benefit for the year. In practice, the agency usually holds back full monthly checks starting in January until the projected shortfall is covered, then resumes payments for the remaining months.

What Actually Counts as Earnings

Only wages from a job and net earnings from self-employment count toward the test. A lot of income that feels like earnings is excluded:

Pensions and annuities
Dividends, interest, and capital gains
Rental income, unless you’re a real estate dealer or regularly provide services to tenants
Limited partnership income

The test is aimed at active work income, not passive income streams.³ If you’re self-employed, Social Security uses your net earnings — gross business income minus allowable deductions and depreciation.⁴

The Grace Year Exception

p>The annual test can produce an unfair result the first year you claim. Imagine retiring in July after earning $80,000 in the first half of the year. Under the annual test alone, those earnings would erase most of your benefits for the whole year, even though you weren’t collecting anything during the months you worked.

Social Security uses a monthly earnings test during what it calls a grace year. In that year, you receive your full benefit for any month you earn below the monthly threshold, which is $2,040 in 2026, no matter what your annual total looks like.⁵ So the July retiree gets checks for July through December as long as each of those months stays under $2,040.²

The grace year usually applies once — the first year you become entitled to benefits and have at least one month under the monthly limit. A new one can arise if you stop receiving one type of benefit and later become entitled to a different type after a break.

What Happens at Full Retirement Age

Once you reach full retirement age, the earnings test disappears. You can earn any amount without a dollar being withheld from your spousal benefit.⁶ Full retirement age is 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later, and slightly earlier for people born before that.

The withheld benefits aren’t forfeited. Social Security recalculates your monthly payment at full retirement age, adjusting your early-claiming reduction to credit any months where your check was fully withheld.⁷ You don’t get a lump-sum refund, but your monthly amount goes up going forward, and over enough years it makes up for what was held back.

When Your Spouse’s Work Reduces Your Check

This surprises many couples. Your spousal benefit is based on the primary worker’s record, and if that worker is under full retirement age and exceeds their own earnings limit, their benefit gets withheld — and yours can be reduced along with it, because auxiliary benefits ride on the worker’s payment.⁸

The reverse isn’t true. If you’re the one working and you exceed the limit, only your spousal check is affected. Your spouse’s retirement benefit stays the same.⁸ For a couple where the higher-earning spouse is 63 and still on the job, plan for reduced spousal benefits until that worker hits full retirement age.

Taxes on Benefits When You’re Also Working

The earnings test isn’t the only financial consequence of working while collecting. Wages can also push more of your Social Security benefit into taxable territory. The IRS uses “provisional income” — roughly your adjusted gross income plus half of your Social Security benefits — to decide how much of the benefit is taxable:

Single filers: provisional income between $25,000 and $34,000 makes up to 50% of benefits taxable. Above $34,000, up to 85%.
Married filing jointly: between $32,000 and $44,000, up to 50% is taxable. Above $44,000, up to 85%.

These thresholds haven’t been adjusted for inflation since 1993, so even a part-time job of $20,000, combined with other household income, can push a married couple over $44,000. The maximum taxable share is 85%; the IRS never taxes more than that regardless of income.⁹

If you expect to owe tax on your benefits, you can request voluntary federal withholding from your Social Security check using IRS Form W-4V, or make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid a surprise at filing time.

Reporting Your Earnings

Working before full retirement age comes with a reporting obligation. Social Security uses your estimated annual earnings to decide how much to withhold each month, so an outdated estimate leads to either too much withheld (refunded later) or too little (which becomes an overpayment you’ll have to repay). You can update your estimate three ways:

Online through the “my Social Security” portal at ssa.gov
By phone at 1-800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time¹⁰
In person at a local field office

Ask for a confirmation number or written receipt. Update the figure promptly if you get a raise, add a second job, or lose hours. After the year ends, Social Security compares your actual earnings from tax records to what you reported and adjusts accordingly.

Penalties for Not Reporting

Missing the reporting deadline triggers penalty deductions on top of any earnings-test withholding:

First failure: one month’s benefit amount
Second failure: two months’ worth of benefits
Third or later failure: three months’ worth of benefits

Penalties can’t exceed the number of months in the year where deductions were imposed because of your earnings.¹¹ At a $900 monthly spousal benefit, a first-time failure costs an extra $900 on top of what was already withheld.

When unreported earnings surface later through tax records, Social Security will also recover any benefits you shouldn’t have received, typically by withholding a percentage of future monthly checks until the debt is repaid. You can request a lower withholding rate, ask for reconsideration, or apply for a waiver if repayment would cause hardship.¹² Reporting on time is far less painful than answering a clawback notice a year later.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 403 – Reduction of Insurance Benefits
2
Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet
3
Social Security Administration. SSA Handbook 1812 – What Types of Income Do NOT Count Under the Earnings Test
4
Social Security Administration. Calculating Your Net Earnings From Self-Employment
5
Social Security Administration (SSA). Applying the Monthly Earnings Test (MET)
6
Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
7
Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Retirement Earnings Test
8
Social Security Administration. How Work Affects Your Benefits
9
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminds Taxpayers Their Social Security Benefits May Be Taxable
10
Social Security Administration. Contact Social Security By Phone
11
Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.453 – Penalty Deductions for Failure to Report Earnings Timely
12
Social Security Administration. Social Security to Reinstate Overpayment Recovery Rate