HOW FAR "BACK" CAN DISABILITY PAY?

You may recover up to 12 months of disability befits prior to filing your application. For example, if your application was filed on February 1, 2021--you could collect back pay from February 2020. This assumes you were disabled in February 2020. You are also entitled to claim 5 months to cover the waiting period on Title 2 (disability) claims. When this is added, the disability can be 17 months prior to filing the application.

In addition, you may ask Social Security to pay you one month's benefit for each month you wait on them to act on your application, after it is filed. Let's say that it takes Social Security 9 months to process and approve your application, you can claim an additional 9 months of "back pay" to cover this. Back pay is paid all at one time after your claim is finalized.

Your disability application will ask you when you first became unable to work. This is called your "Alleged Onset Date" or AOD. It's important to give an accurate date because this is how your back pay is calculated. The following things must be true on the Alleged Onset Date:

1. You were disabled on that date and can support it with medical evidence, and

2. You had stopped working at "Substantial Gainful Activity" (SGA) on the Alleged Onset Date.

OK, what is "substantial gainful activity"? In 2021, you are working at substantial gainful activity if you work and earn at least $1,310 per month before tax (gross). You cannot be "disabled" under Social Security rules for any month in which you worked and earned this much. In 2020, that SGA amount for SGA was $1,260 per month.

So, claim all the back pay to which you are entitled.

The Forsythe Firm may be able to help you recover past due benefits or back pay from Social Security. We will never charge a fee unless you actually recover back pay.