Can You Withdraw From Social Security? Repayment, Medicare, Taxes

You have three ways to get out of Social Security once you have filed, and how to withdraw from Social Security depends on how long you have been collecting. If you started benefits within the last 12 months, you can withdraw your application and repay what you have received. If you are past full retirement age but under 70, you can suspend payments without paying anything back. And in narrow religious circumstances, you can leave the system permanently through the IRS. Each path has its own eligibility rules, costs, and paperwork.

Withdrawing Your Retirement Application

A withdrawal asks the Social Security Administration to treat your original application as if it were never filed. Two hard limits apply: you must file the request within 12 months of the first month you became entitled to benefits, and you are allowed only one approved withdrawal in your lifetime.¹² A request filed before SSA has issued a determination on your application does not count toward that one-time limit.

You file Form SSA-521 (Request for Withdrawal of Application), available on the SSA website or at any field office.³ The form asks for your Social Security number, the reason for the withdrawal, and whether you want to keep Medicare.

Everyone else drawing benefits on your record must consent in writing before SSA will approve the request. That includes a spouse or children who would lose their own monthly payments.¹ An independently entitled divorced spouse is the exception; their payments continue regardless of what you do.⁴

What You Have to Repay

You must return every dollar paid out on your record, not just what landed in your bank account. The total covers money withheld for federal income taxes, Medicare Part B premiums, and any garnishments.⁵ For someone close to the 12-month mark, that can reach tens of thousands of dollars.

SSA prefers a single lump-sum payment. The regulation itself only requires that all benefits be “repaid or we are satisfied that they will be repaid,” which leaves the agency some room.¹ If you cannot cover the full amount at once, ask about paying most of it up front with the balance in 30 to 90 days, or setting up installments.

Your Medicare Choice on the Form

If you enrolled in Medicare when you filed for retirement, Form SSA-521 asks whether you want to keep that coverage.³ Keep it, and you will pay the Part B premium directly rather than through a deduction from a monthly check that no longer exists.

Drop Medicare, and the cost jumps. You must repay Medicare for the actual hospital and care costs Part A paid on your behalf during the enrollment period, not just the premiums.⁵ People often overlook this, and it can dwarf the Social Security repayment itself.

Taxes on Benefits You Repay

The tax side turns on whether the repayment happens in the same year you received the money. Your Form SSA-1099 shows repayments in Box 4 and net benefits in Box 5. If repayments exceed gross benefits, Box 5 is negative and none of your benefits are taxable that year.⁶

If you repay more than $3,000 that was reported as income in an earlier year, you have two options. You can take an itemized deduction for the repaid amount, or you can recalculate the earlier year’s tax as if the income had never been reported and claim the difference as a credit against your current-year tax. Use whichever produces the lower bill.⁷ Hold on to your repayment records and SSA correspondence in case the IRS asks.

Suspending Benefits Instead of Withdrawing

Past the 12-month window, or unwilling to repay, you still have an option if you have reached full retirement age and are not yet 70: voluntary suspension. SSA pauses your monthly payments without any repayment.⁸ Full retirement age is 66 for people born from 1943 through 1954, rises by two months a year for birth years 1955 through 1959, and reaches 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.⁹

The reason to suspend is the delayed retirement credit. For anyone born after January 1, 1943, your benefit grows by two-thirds of one percent for each month payments are paused, or 8 percent a year.¹⁰ Suspension begins the month after SSA receives your request and ends automatically the month after you turn 70, when payments restart with the accumulated credits.¹¹ You can also ask for payments to resume at any point before 70.

Suspension affects your family. Anyone drawing on your record, such as a spouse or dependent children, stops receiving payments for the same period.¹² That rule applies to suspension requests filed on or after April 30, 2016.¹³ You also cannot collect on anyone else’s record, such as spousal benefits, during your own suspension. A divorced ex-spouse drawing on your record is the exception; those payments continue. Talk to anyone whose income depends on your record before you file.

If SSA Denies the Withdrawal

SSA can deny a withdrawal if you missed the 12-month deadline, already used your lifetime withdrawal, or failed to provide the repayment or the required consents. You have 60 days from the date you receive the denial notice to file a Request for Reconsideration on Form SSA-561.¹⁴ You can start a non-disability reconsideration through your online SSA account, upload the completed PDF, or call 1-800-772-1213 for help filing.

Religious Exemption: The Permanent Exit

The only way to leave the Social Security system entirely is a religious exemption that removes both the tax obligation and the right to any future benefits. It is narrow. You must be a member of a recognized religious group whose established teachings oppose any form of public or private insurance, including payments for death, disability, retirement, or medical care.¹⁵

The group itself must have existed continuously since December 31, 1950, and must provide a reasonable standard of living for its dependent members.¹⁶ You apply by filing Form 4029 with the IRS, and SSA independently verifies that the group meets every requirement before the exemption is approved.

For self-employed applicants, the exemption removes the 15.3 percent self-employment tax that funds Social Security and Medicare.¹⁵ A separate provision covers employees: both worker and employer can be exempt from FICA, but only if the employer belongs to the same qualifying religious group.¹⁷

Approval requires a permanent waiver of all future Social Security and Medicare benefits, including retirement, disability, and medical coverage. The decision is generally irreversible, which is why the screening is rigorous.

1
eCFR. 20 CFR 404.640 – Withdrawal of an Application
2
Social Security Administration. POMS NL 00703.703 – Withdrawal Denial
3
Social Security Administration. Form SSA-521 – Request for Withdrawal of Application
4
Social Security Administration. POMS GN 00206.005 – Requirements for Withdrawal of a Benefit Application
5
Social Security Administration. Cancel Your Benefits Application
6
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915 – Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRM 21.6.6 – Specific Claims and Other Issues
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 402 – Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Benefit Payments
9
Social Security Administration. Retirement Benefits
10
Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.313 – What Are Delayed Retirement Credits and How Do They Increase My Old-Age Benefit Amount
11
Social Security Administration. POMS GN 02409.130 – Voluntary Suspension Reinstatement
12
Social Security Administration. Suspending Your Retirement Benefit Payments
13
Social Security Administration. Filing Rules for Retirement and Spouses Benefits
14
Social Security Administration. Request Reconsideration
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1402 – Definitions
16
IRS. Form 4029 – Application for Exemption From Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Waiver of Benefits
17
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3127 – Exemption for Employers and Their Employees Where Both Are Members of Religious Faiths Opposed to Participation in Social Security Act Programs