People in Texas who meet the income and disability requirements to get Supplemental Security Income might still have the ability and desire to work. Since SSI benefits are based on the needs of the person receiving it and they must be disabled, blind or 65-years-old or older, it is important that a working person who gets SSI reports his or her wages to the Social Security Administration every month. This is referred to as monthly wage reporting. It is a vital part of SSI for people who work.
It is a law that the wages must be reported. They might not even affect the amount the person receives in SSI. If there are expenses that the recipient must pay to work, that is factored in by the SSA when deciding if the SSI benefits should be reduced accordingly. In general, if the person has access to more income, the SSI payments will be reduced. If the reporting is not done in a timely fashion, the recipient might need to repay some money to the SSA.
There are also instances in which a person getting SSI must report wages that others receive. This is true in the case of a spouse if he or she lives with the recipient; a parent if the person lives with them and is younger than 18; and sponsors for a person who is not a citizen of the United States. If any of these people stop working, that must be reported to the SSA. Monthly wages can be reported via automated telephone service. The wages must be reported as soon as the last payment of each month is received, but it should not be later than the 10th day of the following month.
Since SSI benefits are so vital to help a person make ends meet, it is similarly important to make sure to follow all the rules laid out by the SSA to keep the benefits. Part of that is income reporting. If there is a problem with income reporting or there was a disagreement about anything encompassing income and SSI, an attorney can be of help.
Source: ssa.gov, “Reporting Wages When You Receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI),” accessed Nov. 21, 2017