SSI & SSDI Back Pay Calculator in Oregon: How Does It Work?

How Do I Calculate Social Security Disability Back Pay?

Social Security provides disability back pay to make up for the time they took to process your claim.

For both SSDI and SSI, calculating your back pay begins with your approval letter. You take that date and count the months back to the date you applied or first became eligible for disability benefits because of your health. Back pay covers these time gaps.

Social Security takes the number of months and multiplies that by your monthly benefit amount.

For SSDI, your eligibility for back pay begins on the date Social Security decides you became officially “disabled” and could no longer work. This is your “established onset date” or EOD.

It’s important to know that you have to subtract a mandatory five-month waiting period from your back pay for SSDI.

Here’s an example of how it works:

Let’s say it took 12 months from your EOD to get your SSDI application approved, and your monthly benefits payment is $1,000.

Subtract the five-month waiting period, and you’re eligible for seven months of back pay, or $7,000. Social Security usually pays you one lump sum for your SSDI back pay. It usually comes about two months after your monthly benefits begin.

SSI is different. You can only receive back pay under SSI for the time from your application date to your approval date—there’s no EOD.

That makes it all the more important to apply for SSI benefits as soon as you think you’re eligible.

SSI back pay also comes in two or three installments at six-month intervals (instead of all at once like SSDI), depending on the amount you’re eligible to receive.

The experienced Oregon disability lawyers at Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor can help you quickly and accurately apply for the benefits you need and help you understand your back pay once you’re approved.

You pay no fee for a disability attorney until you win benefits. In fact, when you do win benefits, your attorney’s fee comes from a portion of your back pay, not your monthly benefits going forward.

Give us a call today and we will look at your case free of charge.

Some Additional Facts About Social Security Back Pay

Understanding what you’re owed after your benefits begin is complicated.

Everyone’s situation is unique, and so calculating back pay will be different depending on the circumstances specific to your case.

Here are some points to consider when thinking about back pay.

• For SSDI, your EOD can be different from your “alleged onset date” or AOD.

Your AOD is the date that you claim you became impaired and could no longer work. Usually your EOD is the same as your AOD, but Social Security doesn’t take your word for it.

You must produce a medical history of your condition as well as proof of the date you stopped working or stopped participating in what they call “substantial gainful activity.”

Your EOD may be later your AOD if you tried to keep working after getting sick, or Social Security doesn’t agree with your AOD. In these cases, your back pay will be less than if it started from the date you said you first had a disability.

If there is a significant gap between your AOD and what Social Security decides is your EOD, you can appeal.

• Retroactive pay only applies to SSDI.

Retroactive pay is not back pay. Rather, it is a sum that covers the monthly payments between your EOD—the date you couldn’t work any longer because of your health problems—and the date you applied for disability benefits.

Retroactive pay is available under SSDI. SSI back pay only covers the time between your application date and your approval date.

• Social Security Disability will pay up to 12 months of retroactive pay.

Social Security has a one-year maximum on what it will cover with retroactive pay. So if you stopped working several months or even years before you apply for SSDI benefits, you’ll only receive back pay for the 12 months before your application.

• Back pay will increase with appeals.

The appeals process is long and contains several steps. The longer it takes, the more back pay you may be owed. Remember: the 12-month maximum only applies to the time period before you apply. Once you apply, you’re entitled to back pay for all the months it takes to process your application and win your appeal.

• An Oregon disability attorney can give you an advantage.

With our decades of experience helping Oregonians win disability benefits, the disability lawyers at Wells, Manning, Eitenmiller & Taylor have seen it all.

We bring that knowledge, along with a compassionate and personal approach, so you get your questions about the process answered.

You have enough to deal with. Your health and your family should be your focus. Let us carry the weight of dealing with Social Security Disability, so you can rest.

Give us a call today.