Social Security Earnings Test Calculator
If I work while claiming early, how much is withheld, and do I get it back? Every piece below can be linked to, so it opens in a window on your reader's screen, current as of the record. No form to fill in.
2026 law · Reviewed September 6, 2026 · The full page, with methodology and sources · the terms · All tools
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The benefit, the birth year, this year's age, and the year's earnings in; the withholding, the checks held back, what is paid, and the recomputed benefit at full retirement age out. In a frame it carries no cookies, no tracking, and a visible link back to the methodology. Your site has to allow frames; most do. The link that opens it in a small window is on the professionals page.
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- In plain words.
- If you start Social Security before your full retirement age and keep working, benefits are withheld once your wages pass a yearly limit: one dollar for every two over the limit, taken as whole missed checks from the start of the year. The money is not lost. When you reach full retirement age, the missed months are credited back as a permanently higher benefit. This tool computes the withholding, the number of checks, and the higher benefit.
- Why it matters.
- People either stop working to avoid the withholding, or stop claiming, without knowing the money comes back. The year's cash flow is the real question, and this shows it.
- An example.
- Earning $60,000 at 63 with a $1,800 monthly benefit: about $17,800 is withheld, which is ten missed checks, with a small refund after the year's earnings are reported. At 67 the benefit is recomputed to about $1,900 a month instead of $1,800.
- Where it stops.
- It assumes your earnings are spread evenly through the year and that no one else collects on your record. The rules are different in your first year of claiming and in the year you reach full retirement age, which the tool handles only in outline.
The facts
Six quotable sentences on working while claiming, 2026 figures.
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- 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 2026 earnings test
The two limits, the two rates, what counts, and what happens at full retirement age.
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| 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 |
Cite and link.
The clean address, a citation generated from the record so it can never carry a stale review date, and an address for every section so you can point a reader at the exact table or method.
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- Link
- https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test
- Citation
- Considerate Capital, "Social Security Earnings Test Calculator," reviewed September 6, 2026, https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test.
Link to a section
- The calculator https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#calculator
- The facts https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#facts
- The test https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#key-numbers
- How the test works https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#how-it-works
- Methodology https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#methodology
- Sources https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#sources
- Revision history https://consideratecapital.com/tools/social-security-earnings-test#revision-history
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