Can I collect Social Security retirement benefits retroactively
Yes, if you are over full retirement age (FRA) — the age at which you qualify for 100 percent of the benefit calculated from your lifetime earnings. Social Security does not allow what it calls “retroactivity” if you claim benefits before then. If you are at , which varies according to the , Social Security will pay benefits starting that month. If you apply one to five months after you reach FRA, you can get retroactive benefits in a lump sum for that number of months. If you file six months or more past full retirement age, you can get up to six months in back benefits. For example, if you claim benefits four months after you reach FRA, you can get payments for those four months. If you wait until a year after you hit full retirement age, you can get six months of retroactive payments, but not a full year. Retirees who claimed benefits after FRA and then used to be able to collect retroactive payments for the entire period in which their benefits were on hold, but Congress ended that option in April 2016. There is now no retroactivity for benefits that were suspended.
Keep in mind
Collecting retroactive benefits gets you an immediate lump sum but carries a future cost: You will lose the you earned, which will permanently reduce your payment by two-thirds of 1 percent for each back-paid month — or a total of 4 percent for a six-month retroactive payment. Updated September 12, 2022
More on Social Security Benefits
Q& A Tool
Find the answers to the most common Social Security questions such as when to claim, how to maximize your retirement benefits and more. Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.