The term “working under the table” is a phrase that is commonly known to a lot of people, but some may not be aware of what the phrase refers to. Working under the table means that someone is collecting a fee for work performed, but not reporting that income to the Internal Revenue Service or Social Security Administration.
Obviously, most people are aware of the dangers associated with keeping earned income from the IRS, but keeping income from the Social Security Administration has its own dangers.
For one, if you are not reporting income and being taxed on income by SSA, you are not paying into SSA. People who pay into SSA through employer payroll taxes are developing work credits to meet eligibility requirements for not only Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), but also Social Security Retirement benefits. Earning income and not reporting it has other potential consequences other than not being eligible for disability or retirement benefits. There have been instances where claimants have collected Social Security disability payments when, under Social Security’s rules, they were not entitled to them.
For example, take the case of a 58-year-old Montanaman who collected over $120,000 from Social Security disability. This man, according to the Billings Gazette, began receiving “under the table” payments for work from 2002-2008, which was in excess of allowable work-related income. Eventually Social Security discovered the man was making in excess of $25,000 per year and filed a fraud charge against the man. Punishment for such acts may include up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
It is important to understand Social Security’s rules about disability and to know that these rules apply to not only applicants for disability, but also to those who are currently collecting disability payments.
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