1. Home
  2. Taxes General Forum
  3. Effect of COLA on Soc Security PIA

Effect of COLA on Soc Security PIA

My wife started collecting social security benefits at age 62 in 2013. Her monthly payment was approximately equal to 75% of her PIA, and the PIA amount was on the statement she received just before her first payment.

Since then, her monthly payment has gone up because of COLA increases, so is it correct to assume her PIA has gone up as well? We don't actually see the PIA listed anywhere on her statements or on the SS website. Next year, we will both be 66,and I plan to file a restricted application and began receiving a spousal benefit (I will delay my actual benefit until I am 70). I'm pretty sure the spousal benefit will be 50% of her PIA, but how do I determine her actual PIA, since it doesn't seem to be disclosed anywhere? Can I just take her current benefit (adding back the Medicare premium they deduct automatically) and divide by .75?

Reply to
Rick
Loading thread data ...

This is a tax group. You can probably get your answer by calling the SSA directly. That said, I do not believe you can collect a spousal benefit when you turn age 66 if your own benefit is higher. SSA will be pay the higher of the two. You can elect to not file for benefits and wait until age 70 to collect a higher benefit. Below is a quote from the SSA website:

"If a spouse is eligible for a retirement benefit based on his or her own earnings, and if that benefit is higher than the spousal benefit, then we pay the retirement benefit. Otherwise we pay the spousal benefit."

Reply to
Alan

No, it is well-established that a person can file what is known as a "restricted application" at FRA (which is age 66 in my case) and they can then file a spousal benefit if their spouse has previously filed. The "restricted" part means that you are restricting your application to just a spousal benefit, not your own benefit. The intent of the restricted application is to allow one spouse to collect a spousal benefit while delaying their own benefit until age 70. This is something the government is phasing out over the next few years, but it is still available to people born before 1954.

Yes, this is a tax group, but since social security is funded through taxes, I thought it was fair game to ask the question here. Calling the SSA directly requires waiting on the phone for an hour or more in some cases, so I thought I'd take a shot at asking the question here.

--

Reply to
Rick

They changed the rules within the past couple of months. This spring i attended a retirement planning workshop where they told us about the dodge of collecting spousal benefits while waiting till age 70 to take one's own benefits.

I read the cutover provisions but can't remember them clearly. So the OP may or may not still be eligible to do this.

BTW, it's not well known that EX-spouses can collect spousal benefits, and spousal survivor's benefits if they're higher than their own. IIRC, the main requirement is that the marriage must have lasted 10 years.

Reply to
Stan Brown

I agree. Got it confused with "file and suspend" that went into effect

5/1/16.
Reply to
Alan

Yes, PIAs increase with COLAs.

See SSA's webpage at

formatting link

Reply to
Retired

Yes they have changed the rules on "restricted" applications, but they still apply to people like myself who were born before 1954. They have also done away with "file and suspend" which is a different strategy that didn't apply to me anyway.

--

Reply to
Rick

...and the claimant has not remarried. I've known at least one client who qualified for this.

Reply to
MTW

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.