As mentioned in many articles on this site, there is a difference between the Full Retirement Age (FRA) for Social Security Retirement Benefits and the FRA for Social Security Survivor Benefits.
This is due to the way that the language of the reductions rules is written. The rules are written based upon the earliest age that you are eligible for each type of benefit. Since Survivor benefits are available as early as age 60 under common circumstances, and Retirement Benefits are available at age 62 at the earliest, there is a two-year offset between the two FRA tables, as illustrated below:
| Full Retirement Age – Retirement Benefits | |
| Born in: | Full Retirement Age (FRA) is: |
| 1943-1954 | 66 |
| 1955 | 66y, 2m |
| 1956 | 66y, 4m |
| 1957 | 66y, 6m |
| 1958 | 66y, 8m |
| 1959 | 66y, 10m |
| 1960 or later | 67 |
Note that each “Born in” year is two years later than the complementary year in the Retirement benefit table.
| Full Retirement Age – Survivor Benefits | |
| Born in: | Full Retirement Age (FRA) is: |
| 1945-1956 | 66 |
| 1957 | 66y, 2m |
| 1958 | 66y, 4m |
| 1959 | 66y, 6m |
| 1960 | 66y, 8m |
| 1961 | 66y, 10m |
| 1962 or later | 67 |
Sterling Raskie, MSFS, CFP®, ChFC®
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And if you’ve come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed “advisor’s advisor”.
Does Social Security reduce the spousal survivor benefits if the surviving spouse is still working prior to FRA? If they do, which FRA is used for the surviving spouse?
Yes, the earnings test does apply to survivor benefits, and the survivor benefit FRA is the appropriate date to use in applying this.