How to Calculate My Social Security Disability Benefits, Social Security is one of the renowned programs in the United States of America, which helps retirees, disabled persons, and workers in terms of financial benefits. When it comes to Social Security Disability Benefits, SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance covers those people who require disability benefits. Recipients who already belong to SSDI receive a monthly paycheck according to what they have earned during their lives, rather than the severity of their situation.
They get a monthly stipend, which may be up to $3,011 every month in the year 2020. These monthly payments may also differ if you are getting money for disability from another source.
How to Calculate My Social Security Disability Benefits
If you are interested in getting these benefits, then you should know whether or not you are qualified for them. For that, it is advised to refer to the official website of the SSDI or SSA where you can get enough information. Read further:
How much will you receive?
SSA tends to make individual plans that are unique to all. They use a complex formula, which determines benefit amounts. When it comes to this formula, it varies according to different factors. This is why you cannot calculate your benefit amount on your own and even SSA does not tell you accurately. However, it is estimated that the average monthly benefit is $1260 every month and the maximum limit will be up to $3011.
Which formula is used to calculate benefits?
The formula is completely based on what you have paid in Social Security taxes. It is the Social Security taxes, which affect the retirement and disability benefits amount. In simple words, we can say that these Social Security taxes are called covered earnings. AIME is the average amount of SS taxes over a while.
AIME is known as the formula, which takes our monthly wages into consideration. There are many other factors that are considered such as adjusted for inflation etc. this formula is utilized to decide on the PIA (Primary Insurance Amount), and it is unique to every person.
Primary Insurance Amount is the base figure, which is used by the SSA when they are deciding on the SS benefit amount you will be going to get. This formula uses fixed percentages of different amounts in income that may tend to alter every year.
Still, if you want to look at your SS earnings, then it would be good if you check your Social Security statement on a yearly basis. People who are above the age of 60, will get a statement every year from the SSA.
In case, if someone is not getting benefits, they will be going to obtain printed statements every 5 years. To see your Social Security statement for every year, then you can visit the official website of the Social Security Administration, and there, you will get a column where you can see it.
In addition, the Social Security Administration has also provided a benefits calculator on the web to help people interested in seeing their Social Security benefits amount. This calculator is very easy to use but all you need to provide the exact information you have related to your salary. This way, you will easily obtain a record of what you have earned automatically.
Additionally, the estimate of future earnings will also be given to you. Here is another option where you can track your earnings, which is the website of Social Security or www.socialsecurity.gov/planners/benefitcalculators.html. Even, you can talk to a Social Security representative, which will help you find out your future earnings.
Are there any cutbacks to SSDI benefits?
There are some monetary benefits, which may come from other sources and have a great influence on your Social Security payments. VA and SSI benefits are those ones, which will not impact your SSDI benefits.
If this is the case, where you are granted benefits from a disability insurance policy and it is private and for the long term, then it would be good for you because your Social Security Disability Insurance benefits will not be reduced.
While on the other hand, payments that come from government-regulated disability benefits including worker’s compensation, and temporary state disability benefits, can impact your monthly earnings from Social Security.
In a general manner, the amount you get in benefits cannot go above 80 percent of the average amount you got before you experienced disability. There are some states in the USA, where your SSDI award will be decreased if you get more than 80 percent of your past earnings. While on the other side, in some states, the benefit like worker’s compensation, will be going to see a reduction.
What is the back pay for SS benefits?
Now, what is the back pay? It is the amount that you get in back pay. What amount of back pay you will receive? The number of months in which you will receive back pay will be dependent only on when your disability began or when you applied for SS benefits.
This is why it is very important to send an application to the SSA soon after you have turned into the disabled. This way, you can avoid losing back pay for which you may be qualified.
In case, if you had done it previously, then it completely depends on you whether or not you want to earn back pau from the first date of filing for SSDI.
Take help from experts
If you realize the basics of SSDI, then you can easily calculate what benefits you will get as a part of SSDI. If not, then you do not need to worry about it because there are professionals that you can find offline and online. These are those experts, who will completely help you realize your earnings when you become disabled due to any reason.
Hiring professionals will assist you in understanding better and taking advantage of the benefits, you have with Social Security Disability. This way, you can also maximize your financial well-being throughout your period of disability.