If you are less than Full Retirement Age and you receive a disability-based annuity, the Annual Earnings Exempt Amount does not apply to your disability tier 1 component.
Your disability annuity cannot be paid for any month you work and have earnings over the disability earnings limit (refer to Form AB-31, How Work Affects Your Disability). Certain disability-related work expenses are subtracted from your earnings, such as the costs of special transportation, medicine used to control the impairment that caused the disability, attendant care, medical devices, and prosthetic devices.
When you tell us that you will have earnings over the disability earnings limit, we apply temporary deductions to your annuity for the calendar year based on the amount you expect to earn. We will send you a form after the end of that year to report your actual monthly and total earnings for that year.
- If your total earnings are less than the disability earnings maximum for that calendar year, any monthly benefits that we withheld will be paid to you.
- If your total earnings are greater than the disability earnings maximum during that year, you will not be entitled to an annuity for some months in that year. How long your annuity is not payable depends on how much you earn, but the number of months withheld will not exceed the actual number of months that you worked in that year.