If you become seriously ill or injured, you may need to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI for short. In order to be eligible for SSDI, however, you need to make sure you have a sufficient number of work credits to qualify for the program. Here is what you need to know about SSDI work credits and how they might matter to you:
- SSDI work credits accumulate as you work and pay Social Security taxes
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- The reason they are referred to as “work credits” is because you accumulate them by working and, more importantly, by paying Social Security taxes on your income. If you are an employee of a business, half of these taxes are paid by your employer, while the other half are withheld from your paycheck. If you are self-employed, you must pay the full amount of those taxes yourself.
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- You can earn all of your credits all at once, or over time
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- Every person can earn up to four work credits per year, representing income for each of the four fiscal quarters. Each work credit represents $1,810 in income, or up to a maximum of $7,240 for a full year. You can make this amount of income over time throughout the year, or all at once from a single payment.
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- The amount you need depends on your age
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- If you are over thirty years old, you need forty work credits to be able to qualify for SSDI benefits. However, if you are thirty or younger, you can get by with fewer credits, depending on how old you are. As a general rule, the younger you are, the fewer work credits you need to qualify for SSDI.
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- At least some of your work credits need to have been earned recently
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- For anyone who is over the age of 30, at least half of the work credits you need to qualify must have been earned over the course of the previous ten years. This means at least twenty of the forty work credits you need to qualify must have been earned within ten years of applying for SSDI benefits. There are similar, though more lenient, requirements for people who are 30 or younger.
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- If you do not have enough work credits, you may still have other options
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- Just because you do not necessarily qualify for SSDI does not mean you cannot potentially qualify for other disability benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI). However, to know what your options are, you should speak to a lawyer with experience handling disability applications, who can help you with any legal difficulties that may arise.
If you or a loved one need assistance applying for SSDI or SSI benefits, it is important that you seek the guidance of an experienced Social Security Disability benefits lawyer. The lawyers at Sullivan & Kehoe, LLP have over 50 years of combined experience between its attorneys and are available to you or your loved one in obtaining Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income benefits. To schedule a consultation with our New York Social Security Disability benefits lawyers, call (631) 823-7155.