If you’re applying for SSDI, SSA will look at how much you’ve worked. Just like Social Security retirement benefits, they’re looking at what you paid into Social Security through your payroll taxes.
For most people, that means you need to have worked at least 10 years total. You also need to show you’ve worked recently. Working 5 years in the last 10 generally meets their criteria for recent work. It doesn’t have to be consecutive, and it doesn’t have to be the same job – but over the last 10 years, you must have paid payroll taxes for 5 of them. If you were self-employed, you must have opted in on your tax forms. In some states, if you work for a municipal or state employer, you may have paid into a state-based program rather than federal SSDI. If you aren’t sure, you can double check with SSA or your employer before you apply.
What is a work credit?
A work credit is how SSA determines you’ve worked those 5 out of 10 years, and the 10 years total. Whenever you get a paycheck and have your FICA taxes taken out, you pay into disability. Each time you earn more than $1,730 over three months, you earn a work credit. You need 40 to apply (which is 10 years of work) and you need to have earned half of them in the last 10 years (which is the 5 year rule).
What if you are still working?
Before they look at anything else, SSA looks at whether you are currently working. If you are, you need to make less than $1,550 a month before taxes. That’s called Substantial Gainful Activity and it is how SSA determines whether you are able to work. The closer you are to that Substantial Gainful Activity amount the harder it will be to get benefits. If you make $1,500/month SSA is going to ask if your disability keeps you from earning that extra $50 — or if it’s something else.