Fortunately for US citizens, our country provides a way for the disabled to live independently. However there are those who seek to take advantage of this generosity with fraudulent claims. Therefore, the government must take certain precautions while each case is investigated. The investigation can be prolonged as the applicant may be asked to make several doctor visits to determine if the injuries in question are legitimate and severe enough to warrant them being deemed disable.
The process of filing for social security can be daunting and quite time consuming. Fortunately, applicants are eligible for back-payments starting from five months after the date of application. The whole process can take months or even years, leaving many people to wonder how are social security disability back-payments calculated.
Since the government has five months to approve Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), applicants are ineligible for back-payments during this time. However, applicants are eligible for retroactive benefits. These are calculated from the disability onset date to the date of application. A disability onset date is the day the applicant received the debilitating injury.
Back-payments are also affected by the amount of money the person has paid into the SSI system. People who have worked for years and paid into the system will be eligible for higher monthly payments than those who haven't. There's a formula used when calculating how much each person will get per month, and this number will greatly affect the back-payment. SSI back-payments are calculated by multiplying the number of months beyond the five month grace period that the approved recipient has waited to receive payments times the monthly amount he or she will be receiving.
If an someone applies for benefits in April, he or she wouldn't be eligible for back pay until after September of that same year. The entire process can be time consuming and quite confusing. If you or a loved one has questions about applying for SSDI, contact the helpful attorneys at Carabin Shaw at 210-222-2288. The more information you have, the better suited you will be to deal with the entire process.