Yes, you can work and collect Social Security at the same time. If you have already reached full retirement age, there is no limit on what you can earn and your check is not reduced. If you are younger than full retirement age, Social Security withholds part of your benefit once your wages or self-employment income cross an annual threshold — $24,480 in 2026 — and that withholding is refunded over time through a higher monthly check once you reach full retirement age.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
The details decide how much this actually costs you in a given year, and they also reach into your taxes and your Medicare premiums. Here is what to work through before you take a job or claim benefits early.
First, Know Your Full Retirement Age
Full retirement age is the age at which you qualify for 100 percent of your Social Security retirement benefit. Every earnings rule below turns on where you sit relative to this age.
- Born 1943–1954: 66
- Born 1955: 66 and 2 months
- Born 1956: 66 and 4 months
- Born 1957: 66 and 6 months
- Born 1958: 66 and 8 months
- Born 1959: 66 and 10 months
- Born 1960 or later: 67
If you’re not sure which bracket applies, check the SSA’s retirement planner before you claim.2Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
How Much You Can Earn Before Full Retirement Age
If you collect benefits for the entire year and stay under full retirement age throughout, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 you earn above $24,480 in 2026.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test Earn $34,480 and you’re $10,000 over the limit, so $5,000 gets held back. The withholding usually comes out of your earliest checks of the year until the full amount is collected. That can mean a few months with no payment at all, followed by normal checks the rest of the year.
What Counts and What Doesn’t
Only wages from a job and net earnings from self-employment count toward the earnings limit. Social Security does not count pensions, annuities, investment dividends, interest, or capital gains.3Social Security Administration. How Work Affects Your Benefits The rule catches people who take a consulting gig assuming it’s passive income. If you perform work for pay, it counts.
For self-employment, Social Security looks at net earnings — gross revenue minus allowable business deductions and depreciation. Rental income, limited partnership distributions, dividends, and bond interest generally don’t count unless you’re a dealer in those areas.4Social Security Administration. If You Are Self-Employed
The First-Year Monthly Rule
Plenty of people start collecting benefits partway through a year in which they’ve already earned well above the annual limit. Without a special rule, most of their remaining checks that year would evaporate. So in the first year you claim, Social Security can pay you a full check for any whole month you’re considered retired, no matter how much you earned earlier in the year. In 2026, you’re considered retired for a month if you earn $2,040 or less in wages and don’t perform substantial self-employment work.5Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working This rule applies only once, typically in the calendar year you first claim.
The Year You Reach Full Retirement Age
The rules ease during the calendar year you hit full retirement age. The earnings threshold jumps to $65,160 for 2026, and Social Security withholds only $1 for every $3 above that limit — half the rate that applies in earlier years.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test Only earnings from January through the month before your birthday month count. Income earned in your birthday month and after doesn’t factor in.
Say you turn 67 in September 2026 and earn $85,160 between January and August. You’re $20,000 over the $65,160 limit, so Social Security withholds roughly $6,667 from your benefits for those months. Starting in September, no earnings test applies and your full check resumes automatically.
After Full Retirement Age, No Limit
Starting with the month you reach full retirement age, you can earn any amount without any benefit reduction.5Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working The change is automatic. You don’t need to notify Social Security or file paperwork.
Withheld Benefits Come Back
This is the part most people miss. The money Social Security withholds before full retirement age isn’t lost. After you reach full retirement age, Social Security recalculates your monthly benefit to credit you for the months when checks were reduced or skipped entirely.5Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working The recalculation generally happens in the year after you reach full retirement age and produces a permanently higher monthly payment going forward. There’s no lump-sum refund, but the withheld amount comes back over time through larger checks. Most people who reach average life expectancy end up roughly even or ahead.
Family Benefits Get Reduced Too
When your earnings exceed the limit, the withholding isn’t confined to your own check. If your spouse or children collect benefits on your work record, their payments get reduced as well. Social Security spreads the total withholding across the entire family benefit. A worker who loses $4,000 in benefits to the earnings test might see $2,500 taken from their own check and $1,500 spread across a spouse’s and children’s payments. Those reductions also end at full retirement age, and the recalculation credits the lost months.
Working Can Push More of Your Benefit Into Taxable Territory
Beyond the earnings test, working while collecting Social Security can make a bigger share of your benefits subject to federal income tax. The IRS uses “combined income” — your adjusted gross income, plus nontaxable interest, plus half of your Social Security benefits — to decide how much of your benefit is taxable.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits
- Below $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing jointly: benefits are not federally taxed.
- $25,000–$34,000 single or $32,000–$44,000 joint: up to 50 percent of your benefits may be taxable.
- Above $34,000 single or $44,000 joint: up to 85 percent of your benefits may be taxable.
These thresholds have never been adjusted for inflation, so even modest work income can push a retiree into the taxable range. Earn $30,000 from a part-time job and collect $20,000 in Social Security and your combined income is roughly $40,000 before any other income — already well into the 50 percent bracket for a single filer.7Internal Revenue Service. Social Security Income Some states also tax Social Security to varying degrees, so check your state’s rules.
Higher Earnings Can Raise Your Medicare Premiums
Working income can also bump up your Medicare Part B premium through the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, or IRMAA. Medicare uses your modified adjusted gross income from two years earlier, so 2024 earnings drive your 2026 premiums. In 2026, IRMAA surcharges start once income tops $109,000 single or $218,000 joint, adding $81.20 a month to bring the total Part B premium to $284.10, and they climb from there to $487.00 a month at the top bracket of $500,000 single or $750,000 joint.8Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles
The two-year lookback catches people off guard. Retire mid-year after a high-earnings year and you may face elevated premiums for two more years, even after your income drops. If you experience a life-changing event like retirement, you can file Form SSA-44 asking Medicare to use your current-year income instead.
Report Your Earnings — Or Deal With an Overpayment Later
If you collect retirement benefits and are under full retirement age, you need to report your earnings to Social Security. The annual report is due by April 15 following the close of the tax year, with extensions of up to four months available for valid reasons.9Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.452 – Reports to Social Security Administration of Earnings Retirement beneficiaries should report income changes by calling Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or submitting a Statement of Claimant form (SSA-795) through their my Social Security account.10Social Security Administration. What You Must Report While Getting Retirement The automated online wage reporting tool is currently limited to SSDI and SSI recipients.11Social Security Administration. Definition – MyWageReport
Prompt reporting matters. If you under-report and Social Security overpays you, the agency will eventually catch the discrepancy through IRS wage data and demand repayment. As of March 2025, Social Security reinstated a default overpayment recovery rate of 100 percent of the monthly benefit for new overpayments, meaning your entire check can be withheld until the debt is cleared.12Social Security Administration. Social Security to Reinstate Overpayment Recovery Rate You can request a lower withholding rate or appeal the overpayment, but the process takes time and you’ll be without income while it plays out. Staying current on your reporting is far easier than fighting a recovery notice after the fact.
One boundary worth noting: the rules above cover retirement benefits. If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance, work rules operate on a monthly rather than annual basis and use a separate Substantial Gainful Activity standard, along with a Trial Work Period and Extended Period of Eligibility that don’t apply to retirees.