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Social Security Back Pay Past due benefits (backpay) are not paid out in every single case However, back pay IS paid out in just about every single disability case. This is true for this reason. Social Security Disability cases, from start to finish, can take take up to three years, or longer, to finish. During that time, the meter is running, so to speak. Social security back pay is exactly that. It's what social security "owes you back" after your claim has finally been approved. Back pay, of course, is a huge issue for social security disability claimants since most claimants go months and even years with no source of appreciable income. How far back can social security disability back pay go? The answer is not quite as clearcut as one might think. One way to answer the question is to say that social security disability benefits can be paid back to the date of application and up to 12 months retroactive to this date. However...title II (a.k.a. social security disability) benefits are subject to something akin to an "elimination period" (a term that generally applies to private disability policies---and, in fact, social security disability is considered by the government to be a form of insurance). In the case of SSD benefits, this is called the five month waiting period, meaning that no matter when your disability is considered to have begun, the social security administration will essentially remove five months of your benefits from you (it's worth noting that the five month waiting period does not apply to SSI disability claims). Under the most favorable conditions, an ssi claimant can receive benefits payable from the date of their ssi application. A social security disability claimant, on the other hand, can receive benefits payable from the date of their application, as well as up to twelve months prior to the date of application In the prior paragraph, the phrase "when your disability is considered to have begun" was used, because though a claimant may potentially receive social security backpay back to the date of application (and even 12 months prior to the date of application), whether or not a claimant actually receives benefits from this far back will depend on the claimant's established onset date. The EOD, or established onset date, is the date that a claimant's disability is determined to have begun, based on the claimant's medical records. In many cases, a claimant's medical records will establish an onset date that is fully favorable in relation to the date that was claimed on the disability application. But this is not always the case. Back pay can seem to be a fairly complex issue, depending on a number of factors such as when a claimant's disability onset date is determined and when the claimant applied for disability. And adding to the complexity is the fact that claimants who are approved for disability benefits and who filed prior disability applications (meaning prior to the application they were actually approved for) can sometimes, if the medical record warrants, have their prior cases reopened for the purpose of receiving a larger backpayment. And this is certainly the type of instance in which having qualified representation can make a definable difference in the benefit-award outcome of a case. Because an experienced representative will typically attempt to establish the earliest and most favorable onset date for a social security disability claimant. Get Your Case Free
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