Dear Liz: Are you allowed to stop your Social Security payments if you choose to make over the $23,000 limit?
Answer: When you start Social Security before your full retirement age, you’ll face the earnings test that reduces your benefit by $1 for every $2 you make over a certain limit, which in 2026 is $24,480.
You can suspend your Social Security payments once you reach your full retirement age. At that point, however, the earnings test will no longer apply.
The money you lost to the earnings test isn’t gone forever. The amounts that were withheld will be added back to your benefit over time. What you have lost is the increase in your benefit that would have occurred had you delayed your application until full retirement age.
You still have one last chance to benefit from delay, however. If you opt to suspend your benefit at full retirement age, you can get delayed retirement credits that will boost your check by 8% for each year between your full retirement age and age 70. For most people, that 24% boost plus accrued cost-of-living increases will be well worth the wait.
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