SSDI for Self Employed

[Shaks24]

Has anyone filed for SSDI while self employed. My understanding is that it is treated differently than if you work for an employer. Can anyone share experience with this.

[Jean]

my info is very very old, but when my late husband applied in 1995, he was told since he was self employed he had nothing coming. I sure hope that has changed.

[obsidianom]

As far as I know it makes no differance as long as you file a tax form shedule c and pay the usual self employment tax and medicare tax. When self employed you pay the whole 15.2% as there is no employer match .  That  entitles you to the same benefits as an employed person. You just need your schedule c and tax form to prove you earned below the maximum allowed the prior year.  I believe it is about  $12, 000 max to be considered disabled. If you earn more then that you cannot be considered disabled.
When I get my social security statement yearly it always lists what i can get if I become diasabled. I have always been self employed so it clearly doesnt matter as I would collect quite a bit monthly if I filed, according to the form I get from social security.

[Jean]

Sorry, I was reading that wrong. Too many abbreviations and my brain does not handle it well any more. Hubby was self employed in the year he was trying to get SDI and he was denied. So, no Sch c and not tax return done at that time. SDI is for low income folks, which for those few months, we were and SSDI is Disability, am I correct???

[marlinfshr]

SSDI is the disability based on what you paid in. I have been considered self employed for years. I have gotten 1099's which I had to report and I have reported cash as well. I'm now glad I always reported all my income. Even though it sucked at the time having to pay the full social security on my own (self employment tax) I am actually expecting my first SSDI deposit at the end of the month so I'll start getting it back. It's actually going to be enough to cover most of my current bills. Though with ESRD i'm sure more bills will be added along the way.

They approved me very quickly back in May so the 5 month waiting period ended at the end of Sept. so my first payment will be for Oct.--minus my Aug through now medicare part B that I just got approved for.

I stated my kind of work on the app and of course SS has my previous records as well and everything went through fine, after all, this is based on what I have paid in over the years. So in that sense it really shouldn't matter if you've been self employed or employed by a company.

Now I'm curious how it will be affected when I return to work in a few month's, as I'm going to try to get my service business going.

[Jean]

Now, this could be wrong also, but from what I have been told, you are allowed to work and make a certain amount of $$$ ( $1000.00 a month ?) before it affects the amount you receive.

[obsidianom]

If you earn more than about $12000 while on disability, you will be put off disabilty and have to start all over after your income drops again. So its not a good idea to earn that much if disabled. There is no partial disability, its all or nothing.