How Well Do You Understand Social Security and The 2015 Income Claiming Rule Changes?

Section 831 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 addresses the phase out of the file-and-suspend and restricted application Social Security claiming strategies. These strategies allowed individuals to delay their Social Security benefits while still allowing their spouse to claim spousal benefits. However, Section 831 of the Act eliminated these strategies, affecting how individuals can claim and maximize their Social Security benefits.

Section 831 of the BBA 2015 phases out the use of the restricted application to obtain spousal income while delaying one's own retirement benefit, the application of the file-and-suspend strategy, and strategies for couples and divorced retirees to potentially get more Social Security income over time. This means that these strategies will no longer be available or will be gradually eliminated as the section is implemented.

The Social Security Benefit is calculated using 35 years of your highest earnings. This means that the Social Security Administration looks at your earnings history for the 35 years in which you earned the most money. They use these earnings to calculate your average monthly earnings, which is then used to determine your Social Security benefit amount.

If you file for Social Security and start collecting benefits, you have 1 year to withdraw your application and pay the benefits back. This means that if you realize you made a mistake in applying for Social Security, you have a one-year window to reverse the decision and return the benefits you have received. After this one-year period, it becomes more difficult to undo the application and repay the benefits.

To collect an ex-spousal benefit, one must have been married for a minimum of 10 years. This requirement ensures that the marriage was of a significant duration, providing some level of financial interdependence between the spouses. It also aims to prevent individuals from seeking benefits from short-term marriages. Therefore, to be eligible for an ex-spousal benefit, a marriage must have lasted at least 10 years.

In 1983, the Social Security income benefits were first taxed, and individuals could be taxed up to 50% of their benefits. This means that half of the Social Security income received by individuals was subject to taxation.

Section 831 of the BBA 2015 impacts the file-and-suspend strategy, the restricted application for spousal benefits, and divorced benefits and claiming strategies. However, it does not impact widow(er) benefits and claiming strategies.

Both A and B are correct. According to the BBA 2015, individuals must be at least 66 years old by April 29, 2016, in order to be eligible for file-and-suspend benefits. Additionally, individuals must be 62 years old by the end of December 2015 to use the restricted application for spousal benefits. Therefore, both A and B provide the correct ages and dates for the phase-out triggers of these two Social Security claiming techniques.

The correct answer is "All of the above" because all three statements mentioned in the question are true. The file-and-suspend claiming strategy will no longer be available to retirees who were younger than 66 by April 29, 2016. It is a claiming strategy that allows couples to collect spousal Social Security income while allowing their own retirement benefit to increase due to delayed retirement credits. Additionally, it was first used after the passage of the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000.

The correct answer is "To prevent duplicative or excessive Social Security benefit payments." This phrase mirrors President Obama's 2015 budget proposal reason for including and passing Section 831 within the BBA 2015 because it highlights the goal of preventing duplicate or excessive payments, which aligns with the objective of the budget proposal.