The Social Security earnings limit for 2026 is $24,480 if you’re under full retirement age for the whole year, and $65,160 during the year you reach full retirement age.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test Earn more than the applicable limit and Social Security withholds part of your benefits. Once you hit full retirement age, the limit disappears — you can earn any amount without a reduction, and Social Security recalculates your monthly check to credit you for every month of benefits that was withheld.2Social Security Administration. Working, Applying for Retirement Benefits, or Both
The 2026 Thresholds
Which limit applies depends on where you are relative to full retirement age. Full retirement age ranges from 66 to 67 depending on your birth year; anyone born in 1960 or later reaches it at 67.3Social Security Administration. Retirement Age and Benefit Reduction
- Under full retirement age for the entire year: the limit is $24,480. Social Security withholds $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn above it.4Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
- The year you reach full retirement age: the limit is $65,160, and the withholding softens to $1 for every $3 above it. Only earnings from months before the month you reach full retirement age count.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
- At full retirement age and after: no limit at all.
These amounts adjust each year with national average wages under 42 U.S.C. § 403(f). The under-FRA limit was $22,320 in 2024 and $23,400 in 2025, so continued annual increases are the norm.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
What Counts Toward the Limit
Only money you actively earn from work counts: gross wages from an employer and net profit from self-employment, including bonuses, commissions, and vacation pay.4Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working For self-employment, net profit is business revenue minus allowable business expenses.
Most other income is excluded. Pensions, annuities, investment income, interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, veterans benefits, and government or military retirement payments don’t count against the limit.4Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working You can draw on IRAs and other retirement accounts freely without affecting benefits.
Special Payments for Work Done Before Retirement
Payments you receive after retirement for work you completed before you started collecting generally don’t count. Social Security calls these “special payments” and they include accumulated vacation or sick pay, severance, back pay, commissions earned before retirement, and deferred compensation reported on a current-year W-2 for work done in a prior year. The test is whether you completed the last task needed to earn the payment before you stopped working. If your total earnings exceed the limit but include a special payment, contact Social Security so it can be excluded.5Social Security Administration. Special Payments After Retirement
How the Reduction Hits Your Checks
The math is straightforward. If you’re 63 in 2026 and earn $34,480 from a part-time job, you’re $10,000 over the $24,480 limit. At $1 withheld for every $2 over, Social Security holds back $5,000 of your annual benefits.4Social Security Administration. Receiving Benefits While Working
If you’re turning 67 in October 2026 and earn $71,160 from January through September, you’re $6,000 over the $65,160 threshold. At $1 for every $3, Social Security withholds $2,000. Earnings from October onward don’t count.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test
Social Security usually withholds full monthly checks rather than trimming each one. If you owe $5,000 and your monthly benefit is $1,800, the agency holds about three months of checks, then resumes full payments. If they’ve already paid you more than they should have, they’ll send an overpayment notice and wait at least 30 days before starting to collect it back.6Social Security Administration. Resolve an Overpayment
The First-Year Monthly Test
An annual limit can feel unfair the year you retire. Someone who earned $80,000 from January through June and retired in July would blow past the annual threshold before receiving a single check. So during your first year of retirement, Social Security offers a monthly test instead.
Under this rule, you get a full benefit for any month your wages are $2,040 or less (the 2026 monthly figure) and you don’t perform substantial services in self-employment. “Substantial services” means more than 45 hours a month in your business, or more than 15 hours in a highly skilled occupation.7Social Security Administration. Special Earnings Limit Rule The monthly test applies only in that first year; after that, the annual threshold governs. Your January-through-June salary won’t penalize you as long as your monthly earnings from the retirement point onward stay under the monthly figure.
Family Members on Your Record
If your spouse, children, or other dependents collect benefits based on your work, your excess earnings can reduce their benefits too. Social Security charges your excess against the total family benefit, so their checks can be withheld alongside yours.8Social Security Administration. How Work Affects Your Benefits
It works only one way. If a family member on your record has their own excess earnings from working, that only affects their benefit, not yours or anyone else’s on the record.8Social Security Administration. How Work Affects Your Benefits
Reporting Your Earnings
If you told Social Security you’d keep working when you applied, the agency sends you a form each year to estimate upcoming earnings. You also have to notify them if your earnings will exceed what you originally estimated, or if you start working after saying you wouldn’t.9Social Security Administration. What You Must Report While Getting Retirement
You can report by calling 1-800-772-1213 or by signing in to your my Social Security account online and submitting Form SSA-795.9Social Security Administration. What You Must Report While Getting Retirement The penalties for failing to report on time escalate: the first failure costs the equivalent of one month’s benefit, the second costs two months, and a third or later failure costs three months.10Social Security Administration. Social Security Handbook 1820 Those are on top of whatever the earnings test itself takes.
Getting the Money Back at Full Retirement Age
The withheld money isn’t lost. When you reach full retirement age, Social Security automatically recalculates your monthly benefit to credit you for every month a check was withheld due to excess earnings.2Social Security Administration. Working, Applying for Retirement Benefits, or Both A letter arrives explaining the new, higher amount.
Mechanically, the agency treats you as though you had claimed later than you actually did. Every month of delay between age 62 and full retirement age raises your benefit slightly, so removing the withheld months from the equation produces a permanently higher monthly payment.1Social Security Administration. Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test The adjustment is automatic; no paperwork is required. Whether you fully recoup the withheld dollars depends on how long you live, but the higher payment continues for the rest of your life.
Taxes Are a Separate Hit
The earnings test and income taxes are different rules that can stack. Working while collecting Social Security raises your total income, which can push more of your benefits into taxable territory. The IRS taxes up to 50% of benefits if your combined income (adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half your Social Security benefits) exceeds $25,000 for a single filer or $32,000 for a couple filing jointly. Above $34,000 single or $44,000 joint, up to 85% of benefits become taxable. These thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation since they were set.
The practical effect: earning above the earnings test limit can produce a double hit. Social Security withholds part of your benefits, and the IRS taxes what you do receive at a higher rate because your wages pushed your combined income up. The two agencies don’t coordinate, so if your work income sits near one of these thresholds, plan for both effects at once.