In order to determine how much in social security benefits you’ll be getting every year, an average of your wages is taken over your 35 highest earning years.
It’s important that wages are recorded correctly so you’re getting everything you deserve.
Every year you should check your social security earnings record to make sure it’s right.
What a social security earnings record is and how to understand it
The Social Security Administration gets a report every year detailing your wages. It’s then all placed into one record which shows the year you worked, how much of your wages you paid social security tax on, and how much you paid Medicare tax on.
The amount you paid social security tax on should be equivalent to your earnings that year.
It gets trickier when you make more money.
There is what’s known as a wage base, and in 2022 it’s $147,000. If you earn over that amount, the excess is not taxed by social security and won’t be on your earnings record.
You can check your record right with the Social Security Administration.
By creating an account at mySocialSecurity.gov, you can check the option to review your full earnings record on the homepage after signing in.
The record with give a list detailing every year.
It’s important to make sure the wages are correct so if it’s underreported, you can correct it to be paid the full and correct amount when you file for social security.
Related: These 13 states decrease the size of your social security checks
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