What’s inside
Getting disability benefits and
currently working or want to? 1
Social Security disability rules
Social Security work incentives at
a glance 3
How your earnings affect your
Social Security benefits 5
What to report if you work and
receive Social Security disability 6
If you lose your job 6
Special rules for workers who
are blind 7
Supplemental Security Income
(SSI) program rules
SSI work incentives at a glance 7
Plan to Achieve Self-Support
(PASS) 9
If your work goal is to be self-
employed 11
How your earnings affect your
SSI payments 14
1
Getting disability benets and
currently working or want to?
If you get disability benets and are
working or want to work, Social Security
has good news for you. Our work
incentives, including the Ticket to Work
program, can help.
Special rules make it possible for people
receiving Social Security disability
benets or Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) to work and still receive
monthly payments.
And, if you can’t continue working
because of your medical condition, your
benets can start again — and you may
not have to le a new application.
Work incentives include:
• Benet payments that continue, for a
time, while you work.
• Medicare or Medicaid benets that
continue while you work.
• Help with education, training, and
rehabilitation to start a new line of
work.
Social Security and SSI have different
rules. We describe the rules under each
program in this publication.
If you’re receiving Social Security
benets or SSI payments, let us know
right away when you start or stop
working. Let us know if any other change
occurs that could affect your benets.
2
The Ticket to Work program (Ticket) may
also help you if you’d like to work. You
can receive:
• Free vocational rehabilitation.
• Training.
• Job search assistance.
• Other employment support.
You won’t undergo medical reviews
while you’re participating in the Ticket
to Work Program and making progress
toward your work goals according to
Social Security’s standards.
When you’re ready to explore
your work options, you can visit
choosework.ssa.gov, to learn more
about Ticket to Work and other work
incentives. You may also call the
Ticket to Work Help Line if you have
questions about work, benets, or our
work incentives. Call 1-866-968-7842,
Monday through Friday between 8 a.m.
and 8 p.m. ET. You can also listen to
recorded information about Ticket to
Work and work incentives by calling the
Ticket to Work Help Line after hours. If
you’re deaf or hard of hearing, you may
call our TTY number, 1-866-833-2967.
Or you can read the following free
publications at www.ssa.gov/pubs:
• Your Ticket to Work (Publication No.
05-10061).
• The Red Book, a guide to our
employment support programs
(Publication No. 64-030). You can
also visit the The Red Book online
3
at www.ssa.gov/redbook/eng/
resources-supports.htm.
Social Security work incentives
at a glance
(For SSI program rules see: “SSI work
incentives at a glance”)
Trial Work Period — The trial work
period allows you to test your ability to
work for at least 9 months. During your
trial work period, you’ll receive your full
Social Security benets, regardless of
how much you’re earning — as long as
you report your work, and you continue
to have a disability. In 2024, a trial work
month is any month your total earnings
are over $1,110. If you’re self-employed,
you have a trial work month when you
earn more than $1,110 (after business
expenses) or work more than 80 hours
in your own business. The trial work
period continues until you have used 9
cumulative trial work months within a
60-month period.
Extended Period of Eligibility — After
your trial work period, you have 36
months during which you can work and
still receive benets for any month your
earnings aren’t “substantial.” In 2024, we
consider earnings over $1,550 ($2,590
if you’re blind) to be substantial. No
new application or disability decision
is needed to receive a Social Security
disability benet during this period.
4
Expedited Reinstatement — Your
benets may stop because of substantial
earnings. You have 5 years to ask us to
restart your benets if you’re unable to
keep working because of your condition.
You won’t have to le a new application
or wait for your benets to restart while
we review your medical condition.
Continuation of Medicare — If your
Social Security disability benets stop
because of your earnings, and you still
have a disability, your free Medicare Part
A coverage will continue. Your Medicare
Part A coverage will continue for at least
93 months after the 9-month trial work
period. After that, you can buy Medicare
Part A coverage by paying a monthly
premium. If you have Medicare Part B
coverage, you must continue to pay the
premium. If you want to end your Part B
coverage, you must request it in writing.
Work expenses related to your
disability — If you work and have a
disability, you may need certain items
or services to assist you. For example,
you may need to take a taxicab,
paratransit, special bus, or other type of
transportation to work instead of public
transportation. Or you may need to pay
for counseling services. We may be able
to deduct these expenses from your
monthly earnings before we decide if
you’re still eligible for benets.
To read about other work incentives,
please visit the Red Book online at
www.ssa.gov/redbook/eng/resources-
supports.htm.
5
How your earnings aect your
Social Security benets
During the trial work period, there are
no limits on your earnings. During the
36-month extended period of eligibility,
you usually can make no more than
$1,550 ($2,590 if you are blind) a month
in 2024 or your benets will stop. These
amounts are known as Substantial
Gainful Activity (SGA). However, we
deduct the work expenses you have
because of your disability when we
count your earnings. If you have extra
work expenses, your earnings could be
substantially higher than $1,550 in 2024
before they affect your benets. These
substantial earnings amount usually
increases each year.
Some of your work expenses may
include the costs of items or services you
need to work, but that are also useful
in your daily living. Examples include:
copayments for prescriptions; counseling
services; transportation to and from work
(under certain conditions); a personal
attendant or job coach; a wheelchair; or
any specialized work equipment.
If you are working and have substantial
earnings, you may have the option to
request that we withhold your benets to
avoid an overpayment while we review
your earnings. Please contact us at
1-800-772-1213 or your local ofce to
learn more about how to request we
withhold your benets.
6
What to report if you work and
receive Social Security disability
If you receive Social Security because
of a disability, you or your representative
must tell us right away if any of the
following occur:
• You start or stop work.
• You reported your work, but your
duties, hours, or pay change.
• You start paying expenses for work
because of your disability.
You can report changes in your work
by phone, mail, or in person. You can
nd your local ofce on our website at
www.ssa.gov/locator. You may use
a personal my Social Security account
to report your monthly wages online at
www.ssa.gov/myaccount. We’ll give
you a receipt to conrm your report.
Keep this receipt with all of your other
important papers from Social Security.
If you lose your job
If you lose your job during a trial work
period, your benets aren’t affected. If
you lose your job during the 36-month
extended period of eligibility, call us, and
we’ll reinstate your benets as long as
you still have a disability.
7
Special rules for workers who
are blind
If you’re blind, and you work while
receiving Social Security benets, there
are special rules:
• You can earn up to $2,590 a month in
2024 before your earnings may affect
your benets.
• If you earn too much to receive
disability benets, you’re still eligible
for a disability “freeze.” This means
we won’t count those years in which
you had little or no earnings because
of your disability when guring your
future benets.
This can help you because we base your
benets on your highest earnings over
your work life. For more information on
special rules for people who are blind,
read If You Are Blind or Have Low Vision
— How We Can Help (Publication No.
05-10052).
SSI work incentives at a glance
(For Social Security disability rules see:
“Social Security work incentives at a
glance”)
Continuation of SSI — We pay SSI
to people who are age 65 or older, as
well as others who are blind or have a
disability, and who have limited income
and resources. If you have a disability
and work, you may continue to receive
payments until your earnings, added
with any other income, exceed the SSI
8
income limits. This limit is different in
every state. Even if your SSI payments
stop, your Medicaid coverage usually will
continue if your earnings are less than
your state level.
Expedited Reinstatement — If we
stopped your payments because of
your earnings, and you become unable
to work again because of your medical
condition, you may ask us to restart your
payments. You won’t have to le a new
disability application if you make this
request within 5 years after the month
your payments stopped.
Work expenses related to your
disability — If you have a disability and
work, you may need certain items and
services to assist you. For example,
you may need to take a taxicab,
paratransit, special bus, or other type
of transportation to work instead of
public transportation. You may also
need assistance to pay for counseling
services. We may be able to deduct
these expenses from your monthly
earnings before we decide if you’re still
eligible for payments.
Students with disabilities — If you’re
under age 22, go to school, or regularly
attend a training program, we don’t
count some of your earnings. This is
known as Student Earned-Income
Exclusion (SEIE). In 2024 we don’t count
up to $2,290 of your earnings a month
(maximum of $9,230 for 2024) when we
calculate your SSI payment.
9
Plan to Achieve Self-Support
(PASS)
The purpose of a PASS — The plan
can help you get items, services, or
skills you need to reach your work goal.
Your work goal should reduce your
dependence on SSI or help you leave
the Social Security disability or SSI rolls.
Any money you use to help achieve
your work goal won’t count when we
gure out how your current income
and resources affect your benets. For
example, you could set aside money to
go to school to get training for a job or
to start a business. You can also use
money you save for:
• Transportation to and from work.
• Tuition, books, fees, and supplies
needed for school or training.
• Child care.
• Attendant care.
• Employment services, such as job
coaching and resume writing.
• Assistive technology used for
employment-related purposes.
• Supplies to start a business.
• Equipment and tools to do the job.
• Uniforms, special clothing, and safety
equipment.
How to set up a plan — The plan must
be in writing, and we must approve
it. To start, contact your local Social
Security ofce for an application
(Form SSA-545-BK) or go online at
10
www.ssa.gov/online/ssa-545.html.
Then, follow the steps below to set up
your plan:
1. Decide what your work goal is. For
example, your work goal might be
to get a job you want, and that you
think you’ll be able to do, when you
complete your plan. We can refer
you to a vocational rehabilitation
counselor who can help you gure out
your work goal. Other 3rd parties can
help you, too. You can also set up a
plan to cover the costs of vocational
services (including testing, vocational
services, and business planning).
2. Indicate all the steps you need to take
to reach your goal and how long you’ll
need to complete each step.
3. Decide what items or services you’ll
need to reach your goal. Your plan
must show how an item or service
will help you reach your goal. For
example, if you want to work in a
restaurant, you may need training to
learn to cook. If you want to become a
computer programmer, you may need
a college degree. If you want to start
your own business, you may need to
buy equipment.
4. Get several cost estimates for the
items and services you need. We’ll
only approve reasonably priced items
and services.
5. Find out how much money you’ll
have to set aside each month to
pay for these items and services. If
you’re setting aside income for your
11
plan, your SSI payment usually will
increase to help you meet your living
expenses. We can estimate what your
new SSI amount will be if we approve
your plan.
6. Tell us how you’ll keep your plan’s
funds separate from any other money
you have. The easiest way to do this
is to open a separate bank account
for the money you save under your
plan.
7. Complete ALL the questions on the
Form SSA-545-BK, sign it, and date it.
Make sure that your correct address
and phone number are on the form.
8. Submit your completed form to your
local Social Security ofce.
If you need help writing your plan,
someone at your local Social Security
ofce can either help you or refer you to
a local organization that will help you.
If your work goal is to be self-
employed
If you want to start your own business,
include a detailed business plan with
your application. Your business plan
should include complete explanations for
all of these:
• What type of business you want to
start (for example, a restaurant, a
print shop).
• Where you’ll set up your business (for
example, rent a store, share space).
• Your hours of operation.
12
• Who your customers, suppliers, and
competitors will be.
• How you’ll advertise your product or
service.
• What items and services you’ll need
to start the business.
• What these items and services will
cost.
• How you are going to pay for these
items and services.
• Your expected earnings for the rst 4
years of the business.
We encourage you to talk to someone
who can help you write your business
plan. This could be someone from either
the Small Business Administration, a
vocational counselor, or anyone else
familiar with helping people start a
business. You can include any costs for
this help in your plan.
We must evaluate your plan — After
you submit your application, a Social
Security PASS Specialist will do the
following:
• Review the plan to make sure it’s
complete.
• Decide if your plan will give you a
good chance of reaching your goal.
• Decide if the expenses listed are
necessary to reach your goal, and if
they’re reasonably priced.
• Decide if your plan needs any
changes and discuss them with you.
• Send you a letter to let you know if we
approve or deny your plan.
13
If we approve your plan — A PASS
Specialist will contact you periodically to
make sure that you’re following your plan
to reach your goal. Make sure that you
keep receipts for the items and services
you have bought under the plan.
If we deny your plan, you may
appeal — If we don’t approve your plan,
you have a right to appeal the decision.
The letter you receive will explain your
appeal rights and tell you how to le an
appeal. You may also present a new
plan to us.
If we approve your plan, you can
make changes — If you later decide
to change your plan, you may do so.
However, you must get approval from us
before you make any changes. Tell us in
writing what changes you want to make,
such as a change in the money you set
aside each month or a change in the
expenses you’ll have. Include the reason
for the change. The PASS Specialist will
review the changes and let you know
if we approve them. Tell us as soon as
possible about changes that affect your
plan.
Let us know if you can’t complete
your plan — Contact your local Social
Security ofce if you decide that you
can’t continue with your plan. The PASS
Specialist may be able to help you make
some changes to your plan to reach your
goal. Or, you may write a new plan with
a new work goal.
14
If you don’t complete your plan, we’ll
start counting the income or resources
that you were setting aside for your
plan when we gure your monthly SSI
payment. That means that your SSI
payment probably will go down or stop.
If you wait too long to tell us that you
stopped working on your plan, you
may get too much SSI. Then, you may
have to pay back the SSI payments you
received since you stopped working on
your plan. Remember, you may also
choose to write a new plan with a new
work goal.
For more information about a PASS and
work incentives, read the following free
publications at www.ssa.gov/pubs:
• Working While Disabled—A Guide
to Plan to Achieve Self-Support
(Publication No. 05-11017).
• The Red Book, a guide to our
employment support programs
(Publication No. 64-030). You can
also visit the The Red Book online
at www.ssa.gov/redbook/eng/
resources-supports.htm.
How your earnings aect your
SSI payments
We base your SSI payments on how
much other income you have. When
your other income goes up, your SSI
payments usually go down. When
you earn more than the SSI limit, your
15
payments will stop for those months.
Your payments will start again for any
month your income drops to less than
the SSI limits. Be sure to tell us if your
earnings drop, or if you stop working.
If your only income is SSI and the money
you make from your job, we don’t count
the rst $85 of your monthly gross
earnings. Each month, we reduce your
SSI benets 50 cents for every dollar
that you earn over $85.
Example: You work and earn $1,000 in
a month; and your only income comes
from your earnings and your SSI.
$1,000
-$85
$915 divided by 2 = $457.50
We would reduce your SSI payment by
$457.50.
Note: You may be eligible for a Plan to
Achieve Self-Support that allows you to
use money and resources for a specic
work goal. If so, these funds might not
count when we gure out how your
current income and resources affect
your benets.
What to report if you work and
receive SSI
If you get SSI, you must let us know right
away when any of the following occurs:
• You start or stop work.
• Your duties, hours, or pay change.
16
• You start paying expenses for work
because of your disability.
You must report your monthly earnings
by any of the following ways:
• Sign in to your personal
my Social Security account
and submit your monthly pay stub
information online.
• Use the toll-free automated wage
reporting telephone system or mobile
wage reporting application.
• Call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213 or
at our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778,
if you’re deaf or hard of hearing, by
the 6th day of the next month.
• Submit your pay stubs to your local
Social Security ofce by the 10th day
of the next month.
You can nd your local ofce on our
website at www.ssa.gov/locator. We’ll
give you a receipt to conrm your report.
Keep this receipt with all your other
important papers from us.
Most people can report wages using
one of our automated wage reporting
systems. Reporting monthly wages
electronically saves you paper, postage,
and time, because you don’t need to
copy, fax, or mail wage evidence to the
local ofce. Contact us to enroll.
For more information on reporting
earnings, read Reporting Wages When
You Receive Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) (Publication No. 05-
10503).
17
How long your Medicaid will
continue
Your work income may cause your
SSI to stop. However, your Medicaid
coverage will continue, even after your
SSI payments stop, until your income
reaches a certain level. That level varies
with each state and reects the cost of
health care in your state. We can tell
you the Medicaid level for your state. If
your health care costs are higher than
this level, you can have more income
and keep your Medicaid. In most states,
for your Medicaid to continue, you must
meet all of the following:
• You need Medicaid to be able to
work.
• You are unable to afford similar
medical coverage without SSI.
• You still have a disability.
• You meet all other requirements for
SSI eligibility.
If you are eligible for Medicaid under
these rules, we’ll review your case
periodically. This will let us determine if
you still have a disability or are blind and
earning less than your state’s allowable
amount.
18
Contacting Us
The most convenient way to do business
with us is to visit www.ssa.gov to
get information and use our online
services. There are several things you
can do online: apply for benets; start
or complete your request for an original
or replacement Social Security card;
get useful information; nd publications;
and get answers to frequently asked
questions.
When you open a personal
my Social Security account, you have
more capabilities. You can review
your Social Security Statement, verify
your earnings, and get estimates of
future benets. You can also print
a benet verication letter, change
your direct deposit information (Social
Security beneciaries only), and get a
replacement SSA-1099/1042S. Access
to your personal my Social Security
account may be limited for users outside
the United States.
If you don’t have access to the internet,
we offer many automated services by
telephone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, so you may not need to speak
with a representative.
If you need to speak with someone, call
us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213 or at our
TTY number, 1-800-325-0778, if you’re
deaf or hard of hearing. A member of
our staff can answer your call from 8
a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.
19
We provide free interpreter services
upon request. For quicker access to a
representative, try calling early in the
day (between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. local
time) or later in the day. We are less
busy later in the week (Wednesday to
Friday) and later in the month.
Social Security Administration | Publication No. 05-10095
January 2024 (Recycle prior editions)
Working While Disabled: How We Can Help
Produced and published at U.S. taxpayer expense
