A quiet tool

Withheld, not lost. Here is the arithmetic.

Earn over the limit while collecting early and Social Security holds back checks, then gives the months back at full retirement age as a higher benefit. Enter your benefit, your age, and the year's earnings and see both halves.

2026 exempt amounts; 20 CFR 404 · Last reviewed September 6, 2026 · Facts · The table · Methodology

https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test

Wages and self-employment income in 2026

Only money earned from work counts. Pensions, IRA withdrawals, interest, and dividends do not.

Your monthly benefit at full retirement age

From your Social Security statement. The tool reduces it for claiming before full retirement age.

Year of birth

Your full retirement age is 67.

Your age at the start of 2026

The tool also treats this as the age you claimed at, to work out the reduced benefit.

Benefits withheld in 2026

$17,760

Social Security withholds one dollar in two above the limit. Your $60,000 of earnings is $35,520 over the $24,480 limit. It is taken as 10 whole checks of $1,800, starting in January, and the $240 taken beyond what was owed is paid back once the year's earnings are reported. The money is withheld, not lost. At 67 your benefit is recomputed to $1,900 a month to make up for the months you did not receive.

Earnings limit this year: $24,480; The lower limit, for years before the one you reach full retirement age
Your monthly benefit at 63: $1,800; Reduced from $2,400 for claiming early
Your monthly benefit recomputed at 67: $1,900; Withheld months credited back, 10 in all

Social Security withholds whole monthly checks, starting in January, until the amount over the limit is covered. The rest of the year is paid in full. At full retirement age, the months withheld are removed from your early-claiming reduction. Someone who claimed at 63 and had a year of checks withheld is treated at 67 as if they had claimed at 64. Over a normal lifetime the two roughly even out. The real cost is the gap in your income during the working years.

This uses the 2026 earnings limits and the Social Security earnings test rules, which withhold 50 cents of every dollar over the limit before the year you reach full retirement age and 33 cents in that year, take it in whole checks, and credit the months back at full retirement age. It assumes your earnings are spread evenly across the year. It leaves out the monthly test that applies in your first year of benefits, earnings after your birthday month in the year you reach full retirement age, spousal and survivor benefits paid on your record, and income tax on the benefits themselves. Educational, not advice.

This is a simplified model, not your actual tax return or plan. It only knows what you type in, leaves out rules that may apply to you, and cannot weigh the other facts and trade-offs a real decision depends on. Before you act, talk with a professional who knows your whole situation.

Built by Joshua Mangoubi, CFA, MBA. By using this tool you agree to the tool terms, which include that results vary with each use and over time. Cite this tool, or take a table or chart

How it counts. The exempt amount and rate for the year's phase, the excess charged as whole checks, the reduced benefit at the claiming age, and the recomputed benefit at full retirement age with the withheld months removed from the reduction, all from the regulations and the year's determinations.

What it assumes. Earnings spread evenly across the year, a claim at the start of it, and no one else paid on the record. The first-year monthly test, a mid-year retirement, and a spouse's benefit on your record change the picture, and Social Security will run the actual months; the point here is that the withholding comes back.

Where we fit in. We integrate tax considerations into your investment strategy and collaborate with estate attorneys and CPAs to ensure your plan is coordinated. We are not a law firm or accounting firm, so we do not provide legal or tax advice. Everything in this material is for educational purposes, based on primary sources. Before taking any action, please consult the appropriate professionals to apply these ideas to your situation.

The facts, in one place.

Six quotable sentences on working while claiming, 2026 figures.

Claim before full retirement age and keep working, and Social Security withholds $1 of benefits for every $2 earned above $24,480 in 2026 (20 CFR 404.430(b)). Only wages and self-employment income count; pensions, withdrawals, interest, and dividends do not.
In the year you reach full retirement age the limit is $65,160 and the rate is $1 for every $3, counting only earnings in the months before your birthday month (404.430(c)). From that month on there is no test at any earnings.
The withholding is taken as whole checks from the start of the year, not as a trim from every check (404.434): $12,760 of excess on a $1,500 benefit means 9 checks held back, then the rest paid.
Withheld is not lost. At full retirement age the months withheld are removed from the early-claiming reduction and the benefit is recomputed higher for life (404.412): in the example, $1,500 becomes $1,575 instead of staying at $1,500.
A spouse or child paid on your record has their benefit withheld by your excess earnings too, and their own earnings are tested against their own benefits.
The exempt amounts index to the national average wage each year and are rounded to $10; the 2026 figures are from the Social Security Administration's annual determinations.

The test.

The two limits, the two rates, what counts, and what happens at full retirement age.

Retirement earnings test exempt amounts and withholding rates for 2026 (90 FR 49047; 20 CFR 404.430, 404.415, 404.412)
Rule	Figure	Authority
Years before the year of full retirement age	$24,480 exempt; $1 withheld per $2 over	404.430(a)(2)(i), (b)
The year of full retirement age, months before it	$65,160 exempt; $1 withheld per $3 over	404.430(a)(2)(ii), (c)
From the month of full retirement age	No test	404.415
What counts	Wages and net self-employment income	404.429
How it is withheld	Whole checks from the start of the year until the excess is used up	404.434
At full retirement age	Withheld months are removed from the reduction; benefit recomputed higher	404.412

How the test works.

Claim before full retirement age and keep working, and Social Security applies the retirement earnings test: above an exempt amount, one dollar of benefits is withheld for every two dollars of wages or self-employment income. In the year full retirement age arrives, the exempt amount is higher, the rate is one dollar in three, and only earnings in the months before the birthday month count; from that month on, there is no test. Investment income, pensions, and withdrawals are not earnings and never count.

The withholding is done in whole checks from the start of the year, so a person with a modest excess simply misses January and is paid the rest of the year. And it is not a permanent loss: at full retirement age the months withheld are dropped from the early-claiming reduction, and the benefit is recomputed as though the claim had been made that many months later. The tool shows the withholding, the checks, and that recomputed figure side by side.

Methodology.

Inputs. The year's wages and self-employment income, the benefit at full retirement age, the year of birth, and the age at the start of the year, which is also taken as the claiming age.
The phase. Whether the year falls before the year of full retirement age (the lower exempt amount, one-half), in it (the higher amount, one-third, months before the birthday month only), or after (no test), from the full-retirement-age table (20 CFR 404.409).
The withholding. Excess earnings as the regulation defines them (404.430(b), (c)), capped at the benefits for the months under the test; charged as whole monthly benefits from the start of the year (404.434).
The benefit. The reduced monthly benefit at the claiming age from the claiming engine already on this site (404.410(a)); the recomputed benefit at full retirement age with the withheld months removed from the reduction (404.412).
Validation. A year under full retirement age with a known excess; a year at full retirement age with nothing withheld; the full-retirement-age year for a 1958 birth with eight months counting and the one-third rate; and earnings at the exempt amount. A transcription error fails the build.
Not modeled. The first-year monthly test, earnings after the birthday month in the full-retirement-age year, the special rule for the year of retirement, benefits paid to a spouse or child on the record, self-employment's substantial-services test, and the income tax on the benefits. Educational, not advice.

Sources.

1. Social Security Administration (Federal Register, 90 FR 49047), Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations for 2026, November 3, 2025. The 2.8% COLA, the $184,500 contribution and benefit base, the retirement earnings test exempt amounts, and the quarter-of-coverage amount. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
2. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.430 — Monthly and annual exempt amounts defined; excess earnings defined. The two exempt amounts, a lower one for years before the year of full retirement age and a higher one for that year, indexed to the national average wage and rounded to $10 (a); and excess earnings as one-half of earnings over the lower amount, or one-third over the higher amount in the year of full retirement age counting only months before it (b), (c). Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
3. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.415 and § 404.434 — Deductions because of excess earnings; how excess earnings are charged. That benefits are reduced by excess earnings for months under full retirement age and never from the month it is attained (404.415), and that excess earnings are charged against the full monthly benefit from the start of the year until used up, so whole checks are withheld rather than every check reduced (404.434). Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
4. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.412 — Adjustment of the reduction at full retirement age. That months in which benefits were withheld for excess earnings are removed from the early-claiming reduction at full retirement age, and the higher benefit is paid from that month on: withheld, not lost. Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
5. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.409 — What is full retirement age?. The full-retirement-age table by year of birth for retirement benefits (66 for 1943–1954, rising two months a year through 1959, 67 for 1960 and later), paragraph (a); and for widow's and widower's benefits, two birth years behind it (66 for 1945–1956, 67 for 1962 and later), paragraph (b). Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
6. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 404.410 — How does SSA reduce my old-age benefits when my entitlement begins before full retirement age?. The early-claiming reduction: 5/9 of one percent for each of the first 36 months before full retirement age and 5/12 of one percent for each month beyond 36. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.

Revision history.

The record's history; the exempt amounts come from the annual record.

September 6, 2026: First release: withholding under the lower and higher exempt amounts, the months of checks withheld, and the recomputed benefit at full retirement age.

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