About ssearningstest

Take Social Security before your full retirement age (FRA) and still earn money from work, and the earnings test temporarily withholds part of your benefit once wages cross a yearly limit. People overestimate the hit — or wrongly think the money is gone. It isn’t: at FRA your monthly benefit is recalculated upward to credit the withheld months, so the test delays benefits rather than taking them.

ssearningstest turns three inputs — whether you are under FRA all year, reaching FRA this year, or already past it; your monthly benefit; and your expected annual earnings from work — into the numbers that matter: the limit that applies, how much you are over it, the benefit withheld (capped at your annual benefit), how many monthly checks that equals, your net benefit, and your break-even earnings. It applies the published 2026 Social Security earnings-test rules with a disclosed method — no black box — and runs entirely in your browser. It is informational only, not financial, tax, or Social Security advice, and not affiliated with the Social Security Administration.

The 2026 limits: $24,480 under FRA all year ($1-for-$2), a higher $65,160 in the year you reach FRA ($1-for-$3, earnings before the FRA month), and no limit after FRA. Only earned income counts — not pensions, investments, or retirement-account withdrawals.

Informational only — not financial, tax, or Social Security advice, and not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. Confirm your figures at SSA.gov.