If you do seasonal work, or your income from work fluctuates, Social Security may average your earnings to find your countable earned income. Social Security will only average your earnings during months within the review period. A review period must be a period of time that you were working without having significant changes to your work.
Social Security may average your earnings if your work was continuous and your monthly earnings were sometimes less than $1,620 and sometimes more than $1,620.
Here’s an example:
Norman is a substitute teacher for a local school. His earnings fluctuate from month to month and there have been no significant changes to his work.
Step 1: Social Security will determine when Norman’s review period is.
Step 2: Social Security will then average Norman’s earnings over the review period. Total countable earnings for entire review period / months in review period = monthly countable earned income
Step 3: Social Security determines if your countable earned income falls above or below the SGA threshold.
Income averaging can only happen during the Extended Period of Eligibility. It won’t happen during the Trial Work Period.
If your average income for the review period is below $1,620, you will get your SSDI check. If your average income for the review period is above $1,620, you won’t get your SSDI check.