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Being approved for Social Security disability benefits can be a lengthy process. If you’ve been through the ordeal once, you may have heard there’s a “five-year rule” that can streamline things if you ever need to seek a new round of disability payments after you’ve gone back to work.
The Social Security Administration doesn’t really have any formal five-year rule, though it does have something called the expedited reinstatement process, or EXR. It’s part of the agency’s incentive program to encourage disability recipients to return to work; EXR allows them to do that and not worry that they can never collect benefits again.
Once your benefits stop, you have five years to reapply through expedited reinstatement and qualify for temporary payments while you wait for a decision. Each year, this five-year grace period helps thousands of workers get back on benefits slightly faster than if they started a new application from scratch.
What Is the Five Year Rule for Social Security Disability?
The Social Security five-year rule is the time period in which you can file for an expedited reinstatement after your Social Security disability benefits have been terminated completely due to work.
However, you don’t need to worry about filing for an EXR or having your disability payments cut off if you go back to work. An EXR is the final step in the process after several years of working successfully, and it is part of Social Security’s work incentives program.
If you’re currently receiving Social Security disability benefits and thinking about going back to work, contact your local Social Security office and ask to be connected with your area work incentives coordinator. This person can help connect you with local programs and explain all of your options around trying to work while receiving disability payments.
How Work Impacts Social Security Disability Payments
Before you end up needing to file an EXR, you have to go through multiple tiers of work incentives that the Social Security Administration offers.
You start with a trial work period, then move on to your extended period of eligibility. Finally, you move into the five-year period after benefits terminate when you’re still able to file an EXR. You could potentially go back to work for decades and never even get through your trial work period.
Here’s how all of this works:
Trial Work Period
During your trial work period, you have a total of nine months to try out work without your benefit checks being impacted at all. These months do not have to be consecutive, and once your nine months are up, you move into your extended period of eligibility. Work only counts as a trial work period month if you earn over a certain amount.
In 2024, a month only counts as a trial work period month if you earn $1,110 gross or more. This means that you could earn up to $1,099 per month before taxes for a decade and still have all nine of your trial work period months left to use at the end of it.
However, if you started working on January 1, 2024 and earn $1,110 or more per month, you’ll use up your last trial work period month in September and move into your extended period of eligibility in October.
Extended Period of Eligibility
After you use up all nine of your trial work period months, you go into your extended period of eligibility. Your extended period of eligibility goes on for three years, and it is a bit different than your trial work period. During your extended period of eligibility if your income from work reaches what the Social Security Administration considers “substantial gainful activity,” or SGA, you won’t be due for a check in that month. If you earn under the amount for SGA, then you’re still due for a check.
In 2024, the monthly SGA amount is $1,550 for non-blind individuals and $2,590 for blind individuals. So if you earn $1,549.99 gross in a month at work, and you’re in your extended period of eligibility, you get your Social Security disability check. If you earn $1,550 or more in a month, you don’t.
At the end of this three year period, if you earn under the SGA limit, your benefits will continue. But once you earn over the amount for SGA in a single month, you stop being eligible for benefits. If you earn over the limit and your benefits stop at the end of your extended period of eligibility, you have a five-year period where you can get benefits reinstated through the EXR process, as long as you’re earning under SGA.
Expedited Reinstatement
The EXR is the final step in the work incentives program. You can only file for an EXR if you’re within five years of when your benefits stopped due to work. After that five-year period, you must start a new disability application from scratch.
While expedited is in the name, it’s a bit of a misnomer. EXRs can process faster than initial applications, but they don’t always occur at the speed people are hoping for. While you’re waiting for a decision on your EXR, you can request to receive provisional payments for up to six months.
If you work and earn over the substantial gainful activity amount while waiting, you’ll have to pay back your provisional payments.
How To Apply for an EXR
Before applying for an EXR, it’s a good idea to contact your local Social Security office or log in to your My Social Security account at ssa.gov. You’ll need to verify that the last month you were eligible for benefits is within the last five years. If it’s been more than five years, you’ll need to start a new disability application, which you should complete online.
Currently, EXR applications cannot be filed online. They’re also one of the only types of applications that require a paper folder to be shipped around the country from office to office as your claim is being processed. Obviously, paper folders can get misplaced in transit or in offices. It’s highly recommended to keep copies of everything you send in.
You’ll need to print out, complete and mail the following forms together to your local Social Security office to apply for an Expedited Reinstatement.
- SSA 16 Application for Disability Insurance Benefits. This is the primary application that people must file to receive disability benefits from the Social Security Administration.
- SSA 3368 Disability Report. You’ll need to complete this description of health conditions that affect your ability to work and list any medical providers you’ve seen since your last medical review was completed by SSA.
- SSA 821 Work Activity Report—Employee. If you worked for an employer that issued you a W-2, you must file an SSA 821.
- SSA 820 Work Activity Report—Self-Employed. If you were self-employed or a gig worker receiving a 1099, then you must file an SSA 820 instead of an SSA 821. If you were both self-employed and worked for an employer, you’ll need to submit both SSA 821 and SSA 820. You’ll also need to submit paystubs for the period since your last work review was completed by SSA.
- SSA 795 Statement of Claimant. This is a blank form. You’ll need to fill out your personal information. Also, in the large blank section on the first page, you must include a statement saying either that you want Medicare during your provisional payment period or that you do not want Medicare during your provisional payment period.
- SSA 827 Authorization To Disclose Information to the Social Security Administration, Medical Release Form. Remember, this form needs a witness to your signature.
- SSA 371 Request for Reinstatement. This is the form to request that your Social Security benefits be reinstated.
Several of these forms tell you to send in copies of any medical records you already have in your possession. However, all of your medical records will be requested directly from your providers. You’ll only need to collect medical records if SSA can’t obtain them, and this is rare with modern medical record keeping. Anything you submit yourself will be considered of lower probative value, and duplicates will simply clog your file.
