How To Report Income To The Social Security Administration If You’re Disabled

You consider yourself one of the lucky ones. You are able to work. You don’t make nearly as much as you did before you became disabled. You don’t even make enough to live on, but you are grateful to be doing the work. Since you make under the minimum amount designated by the Social Security Administration (SSA), you are still able to get Social Security disability benefits.

But You Have to Report Your Income to the SSA

Here’s what you are required to report:

• All of your earnings
• Whether you stop working or start working
• Any changes in your pay or the hours you work
• Whether you start paying for any items related to your disability that you need for work (wheelchairs, counseling, or medicines)
• Whether you receive extra accommodations to do your work because of your disability such as a mentor, more frequent breaks than your co-workers and other help
• Any workers’ compensation or public disability benefits you receive
• Your sick pay and vacation pay
• Any pensions you benefit from other than Social Security
• How often you receive payments from any of these sources
• When any of your payments change or end

Here’s how you can report it:

• Visit your local Social Security office
• Call your local Social Security office
• Mail information to your local Social Security office

Before you contact your local Social Security office, you can browse the information available on the Social Security Administration’s website. It may answer some of your questions and give you valuable tips about communicating with your local office.

If you are working while receiving Social Security disability then it is important to remember that there could be consequences for the failure to comply with the SSA’s requirements. Thus, it is important to understand the rules and how to comply with them as soon as you start working.

by Paul B. Burkhalter
Managing Partner of Morgan & Weisbrod, Board Certified in Social Security Disability Law.

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