Office Closings and Emergencies | SSA (2024)

FAQs

Are people on Social Security getting $250? ›

* If you receive your Social Security or SSI benefit payment by direct deposit in your bank, we'll deposit the $250 one-time payment in your bank. Direct Deposit is the fast, safe and most reliable way to receive monthly Social Security benefits. We encourage all of our beneficiaries to use Direct Deposit.

It's all because of a quirk in the Social Security Administration's payment schedule. A few times a year, two Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks will go out in a month instead of the usual one.

If you intentionally withhold information to continue to receive payments, you may face criminal prosecution. Criminal penalties can include fines and imprisonment. For more information about what you must report, go to our Representative Payee Program page or read our A Guide for Representative Payees publication.

To seek correction of information related to individual records, benefits, or earnings, please call us at 1-800-772-1213 or contact us. The Social Security Administration has received no requests for correction to information under Section 515.

Have you heard about the Social Security $16,728 yearly bonus? There's really no “bonus” that retirees can collect. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a specific formula based on your lifetime earnings to determine your benefit amount.

For this year, the highest-earning Social Security beneficiaries can see payments of $4,873 if they retired at age 70. This is in stark contrast to the average monthly benefit, however. Across the board, payments increased by roughly $50 a month due to the COLA.

There is no specific “bonus” retirees can collect from the Social Security Administration. For example, you're not eligible to get a $5,000 bonus check on top of your regular benefits just because you worked in a specific career. Social Security doesn't randomly award money to people.

To qualify for a Medicare giveback benefit, you must be enrolled in Medicare Part A and B. You must be responsible for paying the Part B Premiums; you should not rely on state government or other local assistance for your Part B premiums.

A surviving spouse, surviving divorced spouse, unmarried child, or dependent parent may be eligible for monthly survivor benefits based on the deceased worker's earnings. In addition, a one-time lump sum death payment of $255 can be made to a qualifying spouse or child if they meet certain requirements.

You would not be required to file a tax return. But you might want to file a return, because even though you are not required to pay taxes on your Social Security, you may be able to get a refund of any money withheld from your paycheck for taxes.

What is the car value limit for SSI? ›

The SSA is not concerned with the value of the vehicle. Owning one $20,000 car won't count hurt you. However, owning two cars that are valued at just over $1,000 will count against you. While that may seem odd, keep in mind that they are looking at this as if you could sell excess assets in order to pay bills, etc.

Exit from the SSI program can be due to death, medical recovery, excess income (earned or unearned), excess resources, or a change in living arrangements. In many cases, for instance when dealing with excess income, payments are suspended.

A surviving spouse, surviving divorced spouse, unmarried child, or dependent parent may be eligible for monthly survivor benefits based on the deceased worker's earnings. In addition, a one-time lump sum death payment of $255 can be made to a qualifying spouse or child if they meet certain requirements.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) authorized the Social Security Administration to issue a one-time payment of $250 to anyone who gets a Social Security benefit, Railroad Retirement, or Veterans Administration (VA) disability pension and most people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) ...

We may pay a one-time emergency advance payment to an individual initially applying for benefits who is presumptively eligible for SSI benefits and who has a financial emergency.