Everything you need to know about earning Social Security Disability income credits
By: Darrell Castle
If you’re unable to work and think it’s time to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance, you can call (901) 327-1212
to set up a meeting with one of our associates and start your application today.
Video Transcript
Hello I’m Darrell Castle. I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and I’ve been doing a series of videos on Social Security Disability.
Disability is part of the money that you and your employer pay each and every time you get paid. Usually it’s deducted from your paycheck in the form of Social Security taxes. That is kind of like an insurance policy that pays you when you are unable to work. It doesn’t pay you when you are laid off or if you refuse to work, it’s if you are medically unable to work. But you have to earn enough income credits within a certain time period and recently enough to qualify under Social Security rules for the benefits.
How much time is that? Well, it varies from year to year, but this year, in 2014, you get one income credit for every $1,200 that you earn and you can earn up four per year. So, $1,200 and you can get with four per
year, that’s $4,800. You earn your $4,800 and you are qualified for that year.
How many income credits do you need to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits? The answer is usually 40. It varies slightly according to age, but it’s usually 40.
So what does that tell you? It tells you that’s 10 years but you have to earn 20 of those credits within the last 10 years – half of them at least, in other words.
Let’s give you an example – let’s say you’re 30 years old and you work until you’re 40. Those 10 years qualifies you with 40 credits. You wait until you’re 55 years old to apply for disability. Are you qualified? The answer is NO because you did not earn 20 credits within the last 10 years.
So you have to earn the credits and you have to earn them recently enough to qualify. And what if you earn money this year? What if you earn money in 2014? Can you still qualify? Well that’s a good question for our next video.