How to Request Social Security Earnings Information
The Social Security Administration (SSA), upon request, provides Social Security Earnings Statements to you for free. These statements are helpful in providing a documented record of your yearly earnings over time. They also show you an estimated dollar figure for your monthly disability or survivor's benefit income should you become disabled or pass away in the near future. Additionally, these statements project future earnings, culminating in several differing retirement age scenarios to consider, with benefit dollar amounts provided for each scenario. This information can be very helpful when charting the course of your career and planning your personal finances as you prepare for retirement.
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Things You'll Need
- Most recent pay stub
- IRS income tax returns--previous wage earning years
Instructions
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1
Calculate your current tax year-end anticipated base earnings. Use your most recent earnings statement to divide your total base earnings to date by the number of months that have passed in the current year. Exclude the current month. Perform the calculation. Multiply that result by 12.
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2
Base all future earnings on realistic career expectations. Use the following technique to approximate this calendar year's, and future calendar years' earnings changes over time. To do this, total the sum of the increases from tax year to tax year and then divide that sum by the total wage earning years (including this year), for which you have tax return data.
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3
Add your results from Steps 2 and 3. This represents your anticipated total earnings for the current year, and will be used in the formula the SSA employs to map out future wage increases, your anticipated benefits now for disability and survivorship, and at various projected retirement ages.
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4
Navigate to the SSA: Requesting a Social Security Statement (see Resources).
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Scroll to the page bottom and click on the button that says "Request a Social Security Statement."
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When the entry screen displays, enter the requested information and proceed through the pages, clicking on the "Save/Submit" button for each page.
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7
Have your calculated total earnings for this year ready for input. After entering that data in its appropriate entry field, finish entering any remaining data prompts and click on the "Save/Submit" button.
You will receive an earnings statement with past, current, and projected earnings, via United States Postal Service mail, in two to three weeks.
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Tips & Warnings
An automatic yearly statement, delivered about 2 months before your birthday every year, can be requested from SSA. You may download the hard copy Social Security Statement request form (SSA-7004), fill it in, and mail to the Social Security Administration (see Resources).
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