I decided to put this in a new thread just in case others are confused...
This is copied from a thread below titled "Economic Stimulus Rebate."
Social security benefits are qualifying income. SSI is not.
SSI and Social Security are two totally separate programs. The confusion arises from the fact that SSI is managed and administered by the Social Security Administration, and some people actually qualify for both.
There are three types of Social Security. All three types are qualifying income for the stimulus payment. All three types generate a Form SSA-1099. And all three types are potentially taxable if the taxpayer has enough income from other sources. The three types are:
(i) Social Security Retirement Benefits
(ii) Social Security Disability Benefits
(iii) Social Security Survivor Benefits
All three types of social security are based on the lifetime earnings record of the taxpayer, or the taxpayer's spouse, or the taxpayer's deceased parent. The amount you get is based on the earnings record. This is true even for Social Security Disability Benefits. A disabled person who has no earnings record or an insufficient earnings record is not eligible for Social Security Disability Benefits.
Supplemental Security Income is for people who are disabled AND low-income. SSI is for people who can't work and can't make ends meet. It is a federal welfare program. It is based on financial need--not on the earnings record. In contrast, social security is based on the earnings record, and not on financial need. If you have the earnings record, you get social security even if you have a gazillion dollars of income from other sources. SSI is available regardless of your earnings record. To get SSI, you have to be disabled and poor. But it doesn't matter how much you worked before you became disabled. SSI does not generate an SSA-1099, and it is never taxable.
Social security is a retirement program--just like an old-fashioned pension plan at General Motors. (Yeah, right. That's part of the reason they're bankrupt.) Some people retire early on disability. And other people die, and their spouses and children receive the pension payments that they would have received if they hadn't died. Social security is taxable when your income from other sources is high enough. But that income will never disqualify you from receiving the social security that you are entitled to based on the earnings record.
SSI is not a retirement program. It is a federal assistance program for the needy. It is never taxable because it is not even income. It has a status under the tax law that is actually very similar to food stamps. It is a nontaxable gift from the government. You get it because you are poor. You get it because you need it.
Social security is not a gift. It is an entitlement, in the technical sense of the word. You don't get it because you need it. Even though you may not need it, you get it anyway because you earned it by working.
This is copied from a thread below titled "Economic Stimulus Rebate."
Social security benefits are qualifying income. SSI is not.
SSI and Social Security are two totally separate programs. The confusion arises from the fact that SSI is managed and administered by the Social Security Administration, and some people actually qualify for both.
There are three types of Social Security. All three types are qualifying income for the stimulus payment. All three types generate a Form SSA-1099. And all three types are potentially taxable if the taxpayer has enough income from other sources. The three types are:
(i) Social Security Retirement Benefits
(ii) Social Security Disability Benefits
(iii) Social Security Survivor Benefits
All three types of social security are based on the lifetime earnings record of the taxpayer, or the taxpayer's spouse, or the taxpayer's deceased parent. The amount you get is based on the earnings record. This is true even for Social Security Disability Benefits. A disabled person who has no earnings record or an insufficient earnings record is not eligible for Social Security Disability Benefits.
Supplemental Security Income is for people who are disabled AND low-income. SSI is for people who can't work and can't make ends meet. It is a federal welfare program. It is based on financial need--not on the earnings record. In contrast, social security is based on the earnings record, and not on financial need. If you have the earnings record, you get social security even if you have a gazillion dollars of income from other sources. SSI is available regardless of your earnings record. To get SSI, you have to be disabled and poor. But it doesn't matter how much you worked before you became disabled. SSI does not generate an SSA-1099, and it is never taxable.
Social security is a retirement program--just like an old-fashioned pension plan at General Motors. (Yeah, right. That's part of the reason they're bankrupt.) Some people retire early on disability. And other people die, and their spouses and children receive the pension payments that they would have received if they hadn't died. Social security is taxable when your income from other sources is high enough. But that income will never disqualify you from receiving the social security that you are entitled to based on the earnings record.
SSI is not a retirement program. It is a federal assistance program for the needy. It is never taxable because it is not even income. It has a status under the tax law that is actually very similar to food stamps. It is a nontaxable gift from the government. You get it because you are poor. You get it because you need it.
Social security is not a gift. It is an entitlement, in the technical sense of the word. You don't get it because you need it. Even though you may not need it, you get it anyway because you earned it by working.
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