Reporting Changes is Your Responsibility
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: November 6, 2023
If you receive benefits from Social Security, you have a legal obligation to report changes, which could affect your eligibility for disability, retirement, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. You must report any changes that may affect your benefits immediately, and no later than 10 days after the end of the month in which the change occurred.
Changes you need to report range from a change of address to traveling outside the United States for 30 consecutive days. To get a list of reporting responsibilities under disability, please read our publication, What You Need to Know When You get Social Security Disability Benefits, and for SSI, read What You Need to Know When You Get Supplemental Security Income. If you’re receiving retirement benefits, What You Need to Know When You Get Retirement or Survivors Benefits is also helpful.
Life changes can affect your benefits. You may be due additional payments, or you may be overpaid and have to pay us back because you didn’t report the overpayment in a timely manner. The SSI program may apply a penalty that will reduce your benefits if you fail to report a change, or if you reported the change later than 10 days after the end of the month in which the change occurred. If you fail to report changes in a timely way, or if you intentionally make a false statement, we may stop your SSI, disability, and retirement benefits. We may also impose a sanction against your payments. The first sanction is a loss of payments for six months. Subsequent sanctions are for 12 and 24 months.
You can report your change online, or by calling toll free at 1-800-772-1213. If you’re deaf or hearing-impaired call TTY 1-800-325-0778. Mail the information to your local Social Security office or in person if you prefer. If you receive SSI, you should ask about our options to use the automated toll-free SSI Telephone Wage Reporting Service or the free SSA Mobile Wage Reporting app.
If you receive benefits and need to change your address or direct deposit, you can conveniently do so by creating a personal my Social Security account.
Get the right check, in the right amount, at the right time, by reporting changes right away!
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Tags: retirement benefits, SSI, supplemental security income, survivors benefits
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Doug Walker, Deputy Commissioner, Communications
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications
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Edith A.
Will money paid for medical bills from medicare ,be taken out of my small estate when I die?
A.C.
Hi, Edith. To get additional information on Medicare benefits, check out http://www.medicare.gov/. You may also wish to contact your local Medicare SHIP (State Health Insurance Program Coordinator) here to discuss your question. We hope this helps.
Carmen A.
I am a Us citizen since April 2,2019
Roxanne
How Can an inheritance effect my disability?
A.C.
Hi, Roxanne. Resources only affect Supplemental Security Income. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is a needs-based program that pays benefits to disabled adults and children who have limited income and resources. SSI benefits also are payable to people 65 and older without disabilities, who meet the financial limits. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, on the other hand, are based on earnings and are not subject to income and resource limits. For more information on the difference between Social Security disability and SSI, visit here. Thanks!
Sherry E.
All I need to do is find out how to do an address change, and can’t find it anywhere.
V.V.
Hi Sherry. If you get Social Security benefits (retirement, survivors, or disability) or are enrolled in Medicare, you can create a my Social Security account to change your address online.
If you get SSI, do not have a U.S. mailing address, or are unable to change your address online, you can:
•Call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; or
•Contact your local Social Security office.
If you do not receive Social Security benefits, SSI or Medicare, you do not need to change your address with us.
kathryn
I will be 85 in september and I am already receiving SOCSEC because of disability. Will my turning 65 change my SOC SEC benefit
Patricia S.
My email service will not accept emails from ssa. How can I help.
Cynthia G.
How do I go about changing my mother’s address. She now lives in a Memory Care facility and cannot change her address herself. She did not receive her Medicare Card because she moved. We did not think about changing her address. Now she needs a replacement Medicare Card and to get it she needs to fill out the form for changing her address. As I said, she is no longer mentally capable of filling out that or any form. Can I fill it out for her, in her name?
A.C.
Hi, Cynthia. We are sorry to hear about your mother’s condition. Because of privacy and security concerns, Social Security cannot speak to you about your mother’s benefits. If your mother needs help managing her benefits, you may be interested in applying to become her representative payee. As a representative payee, you will have access to your mother’s records and the ability to update her account information. A face-to-face interview is required when applying to be someone’s representative payee. If your mother cannot be present, a statement from her doctor would be helpful. The statement should say that your mother is not able to -mentally and physically- manage her Social Security benefits and identify you as the person responsible to keep her finances in order. Please read our publication: A Guide For Representative Payees for more information. If you have specific questions, or to make an appointment with the local Social Security office, please call 1-800-772-1213 Monday through Friday, between 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and speak to one of our representatives. Generally, you’ll have a shorter wait time if you call later in the day. Thanks.
Patricia V.
I am the rep payee for my son Lashon Vengrowsky. I am a bit stressed at the moment and am not sure what to do or where to get help with his case because it is so messed up right now. A while back I received a letter stating that he was overpaid in December 2017 and January 2018. I report his wages to Social Security every month before the 5th of the month. There is rarely a time that I am late doing this (I believe there was one time in the last year). My son has been on SSI since birth, 24 years ago. Needless to say, I have had more than my share of trouble with Social Security in dealing with his payments and errors. In these past 24 years, have spent countless hours on the phone with people from the Social Security Administration figuring things out, but have always been able to get it done. This time, it seems that the problem just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I sent in a letter regarding the “over payment” along with a few other errors I found, but when I finally received a response I was given an answer that was less than satisfying. The response I received did not address everything that I talked about in my letter. It just said we stand by our decision of the over payment because when someone has income in a month that puts them over the income limit then we use that income for that month to figure their payment, not two months out like we usually would. So they are saying he supposedly got an over payment in December and should not have received any SSI because he was over the income limit with the income he received in December, but then they turned around and didn’t give him a February payment as well because they counted his December income to figure his February payment too. That doesn’t make much sense to me. Also, I do not even think that my letter was read thoroughly because like I mentioned earlier, the over payment was not the only thing I mentioned in the letter. I addressed errors in other months as well. I would like to mention that I spent countless hours preparing this letter along with supporting documents and to have the Social Security office send it back in such a disregarding matter was disheartening to say the least. Since I received the letter back, there has been even more errors with my son’s monthly payments to add to the list. I am not sure who to call/contact to help me figure this out. Please point me in a direction.
A.C.
Hi, Patricia. We are sorry to hear of your experience. For your son’s security, we do not have access to private information in this venue. We ask that members in our Blog community to continue to work with our offices with specific questions. You can call us at 1-800-772-1213, Monday through Friday, between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., for assistance. Generally, you will have a shorter wait if you call later in the day. You can also contact your local Social Security office. You can ask to speak to a supervisor on your next visit or call. We hope this is resolved soon.
Frederic M.
Is there a form for reporting the beginning of a pension from an employer not under social security?
Eva O.
Would like to report the death of:
Luz Divina Rodriguez SS# *** – ** – *** on April 4, 2019. She was immediately cremated by decision of her granddaughter, Alina Cruz who manipulated her SS check. We are concerned she might still try to cash her check.