What is Social Security Disability Back Pay?

Jan 16, 2018

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The Social Security Disability application process can take more than 5 months and even years before your claim is approved. Thus, Social Security Disability Back Pay is the total amount due to you and is paid from the date that you became disabled.

Criteria for Receiving Back Pay

While you will receive your back pay, there is limit to how far back you will receive it. This is dependent of the following factors:

Date of Application:

To get Social Security Disability back pay, it usually starts from the date of application. However, there are circumstances when you can receive back pay for even before you filed your application. This is called Retroactive Disability Benefits and is given to you if your disability was caused you to stop working for months before you were able to apply for SSD.

Disability Onset Date:

This is the more important factor kept in mind when deciding how far back your SSD back pay should go. When you file for disability, you need to mention the date when you feel your disability began. This date is called the Alleged Onset Date. Once your claim is approved, the date will be converted to the Established Onset Date. This date is entirely dependent on your medical records and work history.

Waiting Period:

There is a 5 month waiting period before the SSA owes the beneficiary back pay. Translated, this means that if your Established Onset Date was 17 months ago, then you are eligible for 12 months’ back pay.

Back Pay vs. Retroactive Disability Benefits

There is a difference between back pay and retroactive disability benefits. Back pay is something that the SSA will pay you for the time that you were waiting for your Social Security Disability claim to get approved. Back pay starts from the date of your application, which is also generally marked as your established onset date.

Retroactive Disability Benefits are awarded to you if you are able to prove that you were already disabled before you applied for Social Security Disability. A lot of people hire an attorney to prove their disability stated much earlier than when they applied for disability. If they are able to prove that they were disabled before the application, then they can change their established onset date. However, retroactive disability benefits will only be paid for up to 12 months before you applied for disability.

Back Pay Disbursement

Most of the time, the Social Security Disability back pay is paid out in a lump sum. However, there are a lot of times when the SSA will issue the back pay in installments. This is because claimants are owed years of back pay.

Firstly, the SSA will calculate how much your monthly benefit will be. Then, your monthly benefit plus a portion of your back pay will be given to you month-on-month. The SSA will keep your payments under the ceiling amount, therefore, you back pay will be given to you incrementally to ensure you don’t go over the payments limit. If your payments cross the ceiling amount, then this could affect your regular monthly SSD benefits.

How is Back Pay Deposited?

The SSA requires all recipients of Social Security Disability benefits to have a bank account. The monthly payments are made by direct deposit into your bank account. You back pay will also be made by direct deposit into your bank account.