You might think that filing for disability benefits is a relatively rare occurrence in the US. In reality, around 14 million people per month receive disability payments from the government. As common as disability payments are, the amount of the payment you’ll receive depends on a number of different factors.
As a result, disability recipients receive wildly different payment amounts. How are disability benefits calculated, though? Read on for all of the disability benefits tips you need!
Who Qualifies for Disability Benefits?
Before you file your disability benefits claim, it’s important to understand whether you qualify for them. As it turns out, qualifying for disability is not as simple as filing a claim for benefits.
On the most basic level, you need to have an approved disability and to have worked at a job covered by Social Security. This means that, when you received your paycheck, you had Social Security taxes deducted from your wages.
Social Security determines how many work credits you need to qualify for disability payments. One credit is equal to $1,510 in wages, and you need at least 40 credits to qualify. That means that you need to have earned at least $60,400 in your life, half of which needs to be in the last 10 years.
How Are Disability Benefits Calculated?
You know that you need to have earned a certain amount of money at a Social Security-covered job to qualify for benefits. This is also a critical factor in the amount of money you’ll receive each month.
Those work credits come into play here, as well. The more money that you’ve earned at a Social Security-covered job, the more money you’ll earn each month. The Social Security Administration uses a complex formula here, but it involves the income you’ve generated and the median income for the position you were working in before you became disabled.
The SSA typically looks back over 35 years to come up with your payment. They’ll also factor in things like cost of living and inflation to find the correct payment amount.
What Impacts Your Disability Benefits Payments?
There are factors that have a negative impact on your disability benefits application. If you are receiving income from any other source, then the SSA takes that into consideration.
For example, if your disability is the result of an injury on the job, then worker’s compensation payments might reduce your payments. In addition, if you receive a pension from a government job that’s not covered by Social Security, then that can also reduce your payments.
Are You Considering Filing for Disability?
If there’s one thing you need to know about disability, it’s that disability payments vary from person to person.
How are disability benefits calculated? The more you’ve earned throughout your life, the larger your disability payment. If you’re concerned about getting approved for disability or the amount of your payment, then you should speak with an attorney to help you navigate the process.
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