Date of Disability and Work Credits

[fuzzylogistics]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Hi all! Thanks for taking the time to help me. I know I will almost certainly need an attorney, but I have a few questions first.

Background:

I have a cavernoma inside of my spinal cord; high up in my cervical cord, which makes every day that my limbs work a lucky day. ( cavernomas are blood filled capillaries that formed WRONG and cause permanent damage to the spinal cord when they bleed, ooze, and grow) I have some permanent damage to the cord from a bleed, which means I've been symptomatic since that bleed. That was October 2013, and I had just turned 29 in August. I did not leave my job until June, 2014.

June 2014 is the date that has been on my 2 SSDI claims.

The first claim was very strange. It was filed in November of 2014. I started it myself online. December 2014 I received a rejection letter from the local SSDI office stating that they had requested a release form and records from me, which they never received. In reality, they had not contacted me prior to my receiving the letter of rejection, despite clearly having the correct mailing address. My private disability company hired an advocacy agency to handle my first appeal. We provided the paperwork, have proof it was provided, and received a technical rejection, rather than a medical one, because they claimed to have never received the paperwork. After they gave the rejection, the advocacy agency pressed them about it, and it turns out they had the release forms in early January - three months prior to rejecting me for not providing paperwork! They advised the advocacy agency to start a new claim. I guess the advocacy agency waited 6 months? to start a new claim, while trying to keep the old claim open (I'm not sure they did keep the first claim open - turns out they were only slightly better organized than the social security office).

The agency started a new claim, with a disability date of June 2014. I received an immediate rejection from the Baltimore social security office on the grounds that I do not have enough work credits for the 10 year period prior to disability.

They claim I need 20 work credits. Based on the information they provided on how the math is done, 20 cannot possibly be correct for a disability date prior to my turning 30. June 2014 is 35 quarters from the first quarter beginning after my 21st birthday. Worst case scenario, that's 17.5 work credits.

Or am I the one in the wrong?

I have 16 credits over the last 10 years, partly due to some very old tax errors on one return in 2010, and partly due to the fact that I didn't start school until I was 25. I then stupidly decided to make my education my number one priority, and didn't work during some of it. I have also long suffered from mental illness, which makes everything harder.

When I left on disability, it was for mental health reasons, partially exacerbated by the constant pain. 3 months later I was diagnosed with the symptomatic cavernoma, via MRI. Diagnosis of a symptomatic cavernoma did not improve my mental health. It's a truly terrifying illness. I have severe recurrent depression with psychosis, generalized anxiety disorder, "present in all situations," as well as PTSD.


Questions:

Appealing this rejection, can I change the date of disability to October 2013 in the appeal? If so, am I right in thinking I would need 16.5 work credits?

Because, if I can do that, I can just charge my boyfriend for a crappy website I built him, and file the taxes January first to get the necessary half credit. Then I would have enough work credits, and be able to file the appeal before the deadline.​

It is well documented that the bleed which caused the more severe permanent damage (intractable pain over a large area of my body), occurred in October 2013. I continued to work because I had a physical job and had been told by doctors that the job was the cause of my back spasms and pain. The spasms started even earlier, in March of 2013, suggesting I had a small bleed or some growth in the cavernoma at that time.​

If we can change the date, would we be more successful changing it to a much earlier date to account for the mental illness? Or changing it to October 2013? March 2013? Or should I leave it as it is, and file a new claim in six months after amending the 2010 tax record? (which may not be possible to do - they may not let me amend it)

Part of the problems with my tax record and work history are that I've been a failed adult. I left home at 16, after graduating high school early, to get away from my extremely insane and dangerously unstable father. My first memory in life is of him physically abusing my mother. The depression, anxiety, and PTSD... those problems are almost as old as I am.​

My Dad took me to his therapist once... and she threatened to report him to the authorities after talking to me for 20 minutes. I grew up with a lot of adults who were aware of abuse and did nothing. I didn't trust the mental health community. In a single year I had 3 counselors fail to protect me, and one of those was my step mother. It screwed me up. I finally sought psychiatric mental health treatment from my PCP in 2012, and he said he couldn't help at all, then referred me to a mental health facility for people with no insurance (that was far from my home.) I was finally diagnosed between June and October of 2014. I now see a therapist at least once a week and a psychiatrist as frequently as she requests I come see her.​

So I'm also curious if a pattern of failure to adult is something that would allow me to pursue an earlier date of disability - maybe even a childhood or adolescent date. The longest I have ever had a job was for 2.5 years when I was a contract exotic dancer... I hardly worked when I was a dancer. Some months I did not work at all. My other jobs lasted 6 months, 9 months... a year and 3 months is the longest I've ever had a normal job. I did well in school until March of 2013, when the back spasms started... but overall, I'm a very failed adult.​

Thanks for your help. We really need it!!

Edit: Oh yeah - I also had a really awful head injury in Nov 2008. I took 3 or 4 months off - as long as I could before I was out of money. I never ended up filing taxes for that year, and I've never been the same since the head injury. Other than the hospital stay in the neuro ICU, not a lot of medical records regarding it.

And I have cavernomas in my brain that have bled. Some of them very small bleeds. One of them a larger bleed. Damage done. Brain tissue is just not as important per cubic millimeter as cord tissue...

 

[Onderzoek]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Questions:

Appealing this rejection, can I change the date of disability to October 2013 in the appeal? If so, am I right in thinking I would need 16.5 work credits?

Because, if I can do that, I can just charge my boyfriend for a crappy website I built him, and file the taxes January first to get the necessary half credit. Then I would have enough work credits, and be able to file the appeal before the deadline.​

It is well documented that the bleed which caused the more severe permanent damage (intractable pain over a large area of my body), occurred in October 2013. I continued to work because I had a physical job and had been told by doctors that the job was the cause of my back spasms and pain. The spasms started even earlier, in March of 2013, suggesting I had a small bleed or some growth in the cavernoma at that time.​

If we can change the date, would we be more successful changing it to a much earlier date to account for the mental illness? Or changing it to October 2013? March 2013? Or should I leave it as it is, and file a new claim in six months after amending the 2010 tax record? (which may not be possible to do - they may not let me amend it)

Part of the problems with my tax record and work history are that I've been a failed adult. I left home at 16, after graduating high school early, to get away from my extremely insane and dangerously unstable father. My first memory in life is of him physically abusing my mother. The depression, anxiety, and PTSD... those problems are almost as old as I am.​

My Dad took me to his therapist once... and she threatened to report him to the authorities after talking to me for 20 minutes. I grew up with a lot of adults who were aware of abuse and did nothing. I didn't trust the mental health community. In a single year I had 3 counselors fail to protect me, and one of those was my step mother. It screwed me up. I finally sought psychiatric mental health treatment from my PCP in 2012, and he said he couldn't help at all, then referred me to a mental health facility for people with no insurance (that was far from my home.) I was finally diagnosed between June and October of 2014. I now see a therapist at least once a week and a psychiatrist as frequently as she requests I come see her.​

So I'm also curious if a pattern of failure to adult is something that would allow me to pursue an earlier date of disability - maybe even a childhood or adolescent date. The longest I have ever had a job was for 2.5 years when I was a contract exotic dancer... I hardly worked when I was a dancer. Some months I did not work at all. My other jobs lasted 6 months, 9 months... a year and 3 months is the longest I've ever had a normal job. I did well in school until March of 2013, when the back spasms started... but overall, I'm a very failed adult.​

Thanks for your help. We really need it!!

Edit: Oh yeah - I also had a really awful head injury in Nov 2008. I took 3 or 4 months off - as long as I could before I was out of money. I never ended up filing taxes for that year, and I've never been the same since the head injury. Other than the hospital stay in the neuro ICU, not a lot of medical records regarding it.

And I have cavernomas in my brain that have bled. Some of them very small bleeds. One of them a larger bleed. Damage done. Brain tissue is just not as important per cubic millimeter as cord tissue...

There is no such thing as a 1/2 credit. A person either earns 1, 2, 3 or 4 credits in a calendar year depending upon the amount of earnings on their W-2 or the amount of profit in their bona fide business.

It is too late to amend the 2010 tax return to get more credits. Three years, three months and 15 days is the limit for SSA.

Filing a phony tax return to claim that you had a business as a web page designer in 2015 will not get you the credits you seek. A competent SSA employee can and should decide that you were not in a bona fide business. There is policy on what a valid business is. Filing a tax return claiming self-employment when there wasn't any would be fraudulent. SSA employees are aware of these tactics. Will your boyfriend actually pay you (and will you have a cancelled check) and will you file the tax return and pay the required taxes (with a cancelled check) or will this be totally fraudulent?

If you did in fact have a business in 2015, it could possibly be sufficient to extend your Date Last Insured to 6/14 but maybe not. Depends upon all the other credits and where the holes, the zero credits are.

If you did claim to be self-employed in 2015 after your date of onset in 2014, you would have to provide details of the amount of time you spent in this business, the amount of money you made, the dates you worked. There is a form that needs to be completed (SSA 820) and documents submitted. SSA would have to decide if it was Substantial Gainful Employment (SGA) after onset or an Unsuccessful Work Attempt (UWA) and possibly recommend a later onset date. Or earlier. Work more than six months is not a UWA. Work under 3 months usually is IF you stopped work because of your condition. You worked 8 months after 10/13. Probably not a UWA.

Same with claiming you were disabled in 2013 or 2008 or childhood. You would have to establish that all the jobs you had after the alleged date of onset were not SGA or were UWA. That means SSA needs the start date and the stop date of each job (exact dates for UWA), the reason you left each job, how your work compared with other people doing the same job, how much money you made each month at each job. There is a form that needs to be completed (SSA 821) All your pay stubs (not your W-2) hold most of this information. There are people who work for years and years and decades and never perform SGA. Think of mentally challenged adults in sheltered workshops being paid by how much they produce, not by the hour.

You may claim any onset date you want, but it doesn't mean SSA is going to accept your date. You can be denied for performing SGA after onset. DDS can decide that you were not disabled in childhood, in 2008 or 2013 if there is no medical evidence to back up your allegation that your condition was severe until you actually were forced to stop work. According to you, the first real evidence would be dated in 2012. Your history led up to that, but your history is not medical evidence. Many people work despite their medical problems and for SSA, you don't get past the first step in sequential evaluation if you are performing SGA after onset. That is why onset date is often set as the last day you dragged yourself to work. Unless the details and the evidence provided prove the work was not SGA or was a UWA.

You didn't say anything about filing an SSI claim which has no requirements for work. It is a program for people with low income. You mention a private disability company so perhaps the income you have now is too high for SSI.

I think you should go in person to your local office and ask to review your earnings record and to discuss filing an SSI claim along with or instead of an appeal for SSDI. If you want to claim all that work you did in your life was not SGA, you should be digging up your pay stubs. You might also consider trying to create a REAL business that may not make you much in profit, but enough that you do get the credits you need. $5000 or $6000 profit in 2016 would get you four credits. Work at your own speed.

It has already been a year since you started this process and you have barely gotten your foot in the door, let alone have a medical evaluation made. You need to get over these technical hurdles first. You are your own best advocate. But be honest.

 

[fuzzylogistics]

Filing a phony tax return to claim that you had a business as a web page designer in 2015 will not get you the credits you seek. A competent SSA employee can and should decide that you were not in a bona fide business. There is policy on what a valid business is. Filing a tax return claiming self-employment when there wasn't any would be fraudulent. SSA employees are aware of these tactics. Will your boyfriend actually pay you (and will you have a cancelled check) and will you file the tax return and pay the required taxes (with a cancelled check) or will this be totally fraudulent?

If you did in fact have a business in 2015, it could possibly be sufficient to extend your Date Last Insured to 6/14 but maybe not. Depends upon all the other credits and where the holes, the zero credits are.

If you did claim to be self-employed in 2015 after your date of onset in 2014, you would have to provide details of the amount of time you spent in this business, the amount of money you made, the dates you worked. There is a form that needs to be completed (SSA 820) and documents submitted. SSA would have to decide if it was Substantial Gainful Employment (SGA) after onset or an Unsuccessful Work Attempt (UWA) and possibly recommend a later onset date. Or earlier. Work more than six months is not a UWA. Work under 3 months usually is IF you stopped work because of your condition. You worked 8 months after 10/13. Probably not a UWA.

To be clear, I'm not trying to defraud anyone, or be phony about anything. I hate phonies. I just don't know the rules, and am finding it all difficult to navigate. I'm also poor, and detailed, free advice is much appreciated. Thank you.

I did build a website a couple of months ago. It still exists. My boyfriend and I have been together for 7 years, and live together. He needed a resume site for things like letters of recommendation, and to further express his goals and so forth. It took me a long time to figure out, despite being painfully simple. Never the less, it is actual work that I did.

He and I share financial responsibility, but he makes more money than me/has no medical bills... so I'm not sure where we fit in the IRS system. We file our taxes separately and keep it simple. The bills are in my name. He pays the rent. He and I write checks to each other sometimes, because we don't have a joint account.

Do I need to be a business - like a licensed, registered, business, to charge someone for building one website? Can I not use my SS# as my tax ID number for work I did for a brief period of time (at my own pace), on one thing? I thought an SE form was the one I was supposed to use for that sort of thing. Maybe I just have the wrong form? I know the clubs wouldn't send the dancers 1099's - they would tell us not to file our taxes. I did anyway for one and a half of those years, and used SE forms.

As far as I know, there's no problem with him writing me a check for the work, nor would there be any reason to cancel it. I can pay the taxes on the income. It would not be, as far as I know, fraudulent. Questionable? Perhaps... but fraud - no, not even a little. It would be him paying me for services I can prove were rendered, and then me paying taxes on that income.

I can prove I did the work on the website. There should be a log of it, because I used a website builder. Every time that I saved, it created a log of changes. Also, I talked to friends and family about it while I was doing it, and much of the work was done on a laptop that only I use.

I would definitely call the website an UWA... it didn't turn out too well, I definitely won't be becoming a web designer, and it's something I did from my laptop at home, using a point and click website builder.

As far as earlier work attempts, they were all left because I'm a crazy person, but unless the SSA wants to go around interviewing people, I have no evidence. I did go to counselors at my community college - 3 in total... but they were really there just to help people succeed at school. The first two I only saw once. They told me to follow Jesus. I'm of a different faith. The third one I liked, but she could only give me a certain number of appointments before she had to refer me to an external source, and I had no money.

I'll definitely have a talk with the social security office. There are a number of years that I did not meet substantial gainful employment. I spent 2 years sleeping on a couch at an ex boyfriends place. How low can you go?

Look, I understand that people defraud the government. I'm not trying to. I am trying to find a way to earn the one or two credits I need, if I am in fact missing them. The SSA has no tax record for me for 2010, but I have found one, and ordered the full transcript from the IRS to send in with my appeal. It has yet to arrive, so I can't verify it's usefulness. In 2011 my only income was non-taxable. While we wait for the documents, my boyfriend has been helping me look for other potential solutions - non fraudulent ones, obviously. He's the one doing most of the writing (hi)

My major mistake was not getting diagnosed at 16 when I left home. No, it was not calling CPS on my Dad... That would have definitely been the thing to do... Instead I tried to escape my tormentor and be somebody worthwhile. I nearly made it too.

If there's anything else you can think of, please let me know.

Thank you.

 

[Onderzoek]

If you had a bona fide business, why didn't your customer pay you when the service was rendered?

Your decision to file the tax return or not. SSA will have to evaluate whether or not it was a bona fide business. There are lots of phony businesses listed on tax returns for purposes of EITC.

SSA is not going to interview your prior employers. You should be able to provide the dates that are needed by finding your paystubs or obtaining them. Or at least try to remember the start and stop date of each job and the amount of money earned. But the work you did 10/13 to 6/14 could easily be considered SGA so trying to establish an earlier onset may be futile.

Should file an SSI claim if you currently have low income.

 

[fuzzylogistics]

If you had a bona fide business, why didn't your customer pay you when the service was rendered?

Your decision to file the tax return or not. SSA will have to evaluate whether or not it was a bona fide business. There are lots of phony businesses listed on tax returns for purposes of EITC.

SSA is not going to interview your prior employers. You should be able to provide the dates that are needed by finding your paystubs or obtaining them. Or at least try to remember the start and stop date of each job and the amount of money earned. But the work you did 10/13 to 6/14 could easily be considered SGA so trying to establish an earlier onset may be futile.

Should file an SSI claim if you currently have low income.

Thanks for taking the time to respond again, but I'm quite confused. I really feel like I'm missing something. I'm not claiming to run a business. Someone asked me to do something. I have the right to charge them for having done it... Don't I? They are gladly willing to pay for it. Please help me connect the dots. What am I missing? What's wrong with that from a tax or SSA perspective? He was going to reward me with a trip - not one he's coming on. A trip just for me to visit some friends out of state... for which he would need to write me a check. Is that somehow different than him paying me, and me spending money on a trip to see my friends? I'm not understanding the needing to be a business part. I thought people could charge other people for services rendered, then pay taxes on that income. I'm not understanding. I'm also not trying to be difficult. I just really am not understanding why I would need to be a business. Please explain it to me. I wasn't a business when I was a stripper. I was just a lady who took her top off, was handed cash money, and was able to pay taxes on that. That's ok, but this isn't? What is happening?

I'm still the person who maintains the site. I put the site in his name, and I think it was paid for with his CC, but I set up the account. It's a very simple site at the moment, but it's been up in it's current form for maybe 2 months at most. I plan to do more with it in future, though it is serviceable now. He did nothing other than pose for a photo and verbally answer some questions about his goals and hobbies. I also formatted and edited his resume for multiple different job types, which did help him get a job... I think... If I did that for a friend or roommate, they might offer to pay me for it, even if I didn't ask... don't you think? Like, maybe they got hired at a job they love (he did), and they said, "Hey, thanks for believing in me and helping me get this job. My resume was full of errors." They might pay me, and then I would need to report that money, were it over a certain amount, yes? The job he got is at a tech company, and he has very little formal education and experience in tech (though he is somewhat knowledgeable, and had worked with the hiring manager previously, in a completely different type of job at a different company... the resume and website may or may not have been that much help. Who can say?)

As for SSI - my private disability insurance company pays me just under $1500 a month, disqualifying me from SSI. I then give $632 of that $1500 to Cobra. I average about 8 doctors appointments a month, and have a $30-35 copay for each visit, plus whatever I pay to get there, whether that be public transportation or Uber (sometimes public transit only goes so far, and then I call Uber from there). No one I know who lives close by is physically available to take me to doctors appointments most of the time, and I am no longer able to drive. It's become quite exhausting.

Point being, a minimum of ~900 a month goes to my insurance/medical bills... I could get cheaper insurance, but the insurance I have now is pretty amazing, and none of the ones available on the government exchange are accepted by my vascular neurosurgeon. I really need my vascular neurosurgeon. No one else within 900 miles of me has actually successfully performed the surgery I need, as the head surgeon. And I can't just book the surgery and go on with my life. I have to, "wait and see," when it's the best time to have the surgery, which is up to the cavernoma and the surgeon.

So... no SSI for me. Though I have thought, that if I were able to return to work (I'm not currently), and I had a bleed in the first 12 months, before I was protected by FMLA and STD/LTD, at least I'd have SSI... (I desperately want to work. I hate being stuck at home all of the time, unable to even clean the house, though it's not the worst part about being sick. The total change in personality and the constant pain... that's the worst part. I was really headed places before I got sick. Then suddenly my grades plummeted, I felt miserable all of the time, and my life fell apart... again. My grades went slightly south in December 2012 when my Step Dad was diagnosed with cancer, a year after my Grandfather lost his battle. I took care of my grandfather a lot when he was sick, and I was still really shell shocked from watching him waste away to nothing and die. Then in March of 2013 I started feeling physically awful (growth or bleed). By October of 2013 (bleed) I had gone from years of straight A's to B's and C's in late 2012, and F's by the end of 2013.)

I'm trying to find something I can do from home. If I did start working from home I would need to make close to 3k a month to keep my insurance. It's going up in five months to over $1,000 a month. Then there's the taxes and medical bills and everything else. I'm trained to do things in labs. Analyze brains and proteins. Breed colonies of genetically significant rodents. Care for colonies of genetically significant rodents. Perform dissections. Grow mammalian and bacterial colonies on different substrates. Mix solutions. Collect, extract, amplify, and analyze DNA samples... and on and on. I can do none of that now, be it from home or in a lab. I'm not up for it. My mind and body are very unpredictable. They are not to be relied upon. Maybe I can get one of my marketing savvy friends to brand me as an eccentric disabled artist. We can sell prints of my MRI's.

Edit: We probably can't sell prints of my MRI's. As art, those belong to the radiologist who captured the image. Just like a portrait. It may be of you, but if it was taken by a professional, it does not belong to you.

Edit2: I get a lot of MRIs. One of the reasons I keep the insurance I do - I pay nothing for MRIs. I had 7 in the first 12 month period beginning with diagnosis. I'm headed in for number 8 next week.

 

[Zigner]

To be clear, I'm not trying to defraud anyone, or be phony about anything. I hate phonies.

Well, except for this, huh?

Because, if I can do that, I can just charge my boyfriend for a crappy website I built him, and file the taxes January first to get the necessary half credit. Then I would have enough work credits, and be able to file the appeal before the deadline.

 

[Onderzoek]

Taxes, taxes and taxes

There are many kinds of taxes; income taxes (federal, state and local), payroll taxes, sales taxes, probate taxes, excise taxes, property taxes.

FICA and SECA taxes are those that fund the Social Security programs. I may pay property taxes on my house, sales taxes on the car that I buy, income tax on my interest and dividend income, lottery winnings, rental income, Social Security benefits as well as on my wages and self-employment profit. But FICA taxes are only imposed on employees (and the employer) and SECA taxes are paid by the self-employed. Self-employed people have a business. They may be a gardener, a child care provider, a cotton farmer, a cattle rancher, a lawyer, a CPA, a beautician, a plumber, a Tupperware salesperson, a web page designer, a realtor. Self-employed people set their own hours, find their clients, determine the cost of their product, pay for their advertising, buy their own inventory and tools and supplies. They work as sole-proprietors, they have one or more partners, they work alone, they have regular employees, they have occasional employees, they hire contract labor. They might earn $500, $5000, $50,000 or $500,000 a year in profit.

https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3815/What-are-FICA-and-SECA-taxes

Social Security taxes (FICA and SECA) are ONLY paid on wages or self-employment profits.

The farmer raises a crop and sells it. The amount he/she spends on raising the crop is subtracted from the sales price of the crop. That is the profit. Taxes are either estimated and paid quarterly or are paid once a year. Same with all business; there are almost always out of pocket expenses paid by the business owner and those are subtracted from the receipts from the sale of the goods or services. (You had to have a digital camera. Now that is probably a capital investment and would have to be amortized, but that is for your accountant.) You file a Schedule C and a Schedule SE with your 1040 (and possibly a whole slew of other forms) when you do your income taxes. Then you get Social Security credit after you pay the Social Security taxes on your profit. Also may or may not owe income taxes.

FICA taxes are paid by employers. The employer is a large or small company (Sears, IBM, General Motors, McDonalds, Exxon, Piggly Wiggly, etc.) who hires employees, sets their hours, their duties, their pay scale. Pays income taxes, FICA taxes, local taxes, unemployment taxes.

There is a lot of barter that goes on in the US that is not taxed (although the government would probably like to). I cut your hair, you cut my lawn. You paint my bedroom, I do your income taxes. I set up your web site, you pay for my air fare. Family and friends do favors for each other. None of those things are businesses. Favors are not a job or a business. I don't think you have a business and without a business, you don't owe SECA taxes and without paying SECA taxes, you won't earn any Social Security credits.

Have you figure out what your SSDI would be if you did somehow manage to become insured with additional credits? Doubtful it would be close to $3000. Medicare would kick in after 24 months of entitlement. How long will your private insurance last? When it runs out you could file an SSI claim and possibly qualify for Medicaid in your state, but it still can leave you without coverage or income for months or even years.

Trying to get insured through SSDI is a good plan but it requires some return to work since you are short on credits. Temp jobs maybe. Perhaps you could create a small business in which you design web sites. There might be people who need that service and don't have much money so they won't expect much and you can charge bargain prices.

You need to have a good discussion with someone at SSA about your earnings record.

 

[fuzzylogistics]

Well, except for this, huh?

I'm not seeing how charging him for services rendered is fraud. I'm an extremely ill person coming here for help. If you're not here to help, I'm not sure why bother. Honestly, my self worth is low enough as it is, and it's hard to ask for help. You're just kicking someone while they're down. I hope it makes you feel like a big person.

 

[ShyCat]

I'm not seeing how charging him for services rendered is fraud.

You volunteered the services as a gift. At the time, you did not provide those services for an agreed-upon compensation. Now, long after the fact, you want to charge him for those same services because you think it will benefit you in your SSDI eligibility. You want to spin that as something other than fraud, but the facts don't change.

 

[fuzzylogistics]

There are many kinds of taxes; income taxes (federal, state and local), payroll taxes, sales taxes, probate taxes, excise taxes, property taxes.

FICA and SECA taxes are those that fund the Social Security programs. I may pay property taxes on my house, sales taxes on the car that I buy, income tax on my interest and dividend income, lottery winnings, rental income, Social Security benefits as well as on my wages and self-employment profit. But FICA taxes are only imposed on employees (and the employer) and SECA taxes are paid by the self-employed. Self-employed people have a business. They may be a gardener, a child care provider, a cotton farmer, a cattle rancher, a lawyer, a CPA, a beautician, a plumber, a Tupperware salesperson, a web page designer, a realtor. Self-employed people set their own hours, find their clients, determine the cost of their product, pay for their advertising, buy their own inventory and tools and supplies. They work as sole-proprietors, they have one or more partners, they work alone, they have regular employees, they have occasional employees, they hire contract labor. They might earn $500, $5000, $50,000 or $500,000 a year in profit.

https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/3815/What-are-FICA-and-SECA-taxes

Social Security taxes (FICA and SECA) are ONLY paid on wages or self-employment profits.

The farmer raises a crop and sells it. The amount he/she spends on raising the crop is subtracted from the sales price of the crop. That is the profit. Taxes are either estimated and paid quarterly or are paid once a year. Same with all business; there are almost always out of pocket expenses paid by the business owner and those are subtracted from the receipts from the sale of the goods or services. (You had to have a digital camera. Now that is probably a capital investment and would have to be amortized, but that is for your accountant.) You file a Schedule C and a Schedule SE with your 1040 (and possibly a whole slew of other forms) when you do your income taxes. Then you get Social Security credit after you pay the Social Security taxes on your profit. Also may or may not owe income taxes.

FICA taxes are paid by employers. The employer is a large or small company (Sears, IBM, General Motors, McDonalds, Exxon, Piggly Wiggly, etc.) who hires employees, sets their hours, their duties, their pay scale. Pays income taxes, FICA taxes, local taxes, unemployment taxes.

There is a lot of barter that goes on in the US that is not taxed (although the government would probably like to). I cut your hair, you cut my lawn. You paint my bedroom, I do your income taxes. I set up your web site, you pay for my air fare. Family and friends do favors for each other. None of those things are businesses. Favors are not a job or a business. I don't think you have a business and without a business, you don't owe SECA taxes and without paying SECA taxes, you won't earn any Social Security credits.

Have you figure out what your SSDI would be if you did somehow manage to become insured with additional credits? Doubtful it would be close to $3000. Medicare would kick in after 24 months of entitlement. How long will your private insurance last? When it runs out you could file an SSI claim and possibly qualify for Medicaid in your state, but it still can leave you without coverage or income for months or even years.

Trying to get insured through SSDI is a good plan but it requires some return to work since you are short on credits. Temp jobs maybe. Perhaps you could create a small business in which you design web sites. There might be people who need that service and don't have much money so they won't expect much and you can charge bargain prices.

You need to have a good discussion with someone at SSA about your earnings record.

I wrote you a long reply and something happened to it. No idea. I hit post... and then it was gone... Basically, thank you for taking me seriously and answering my questions. It was very helpful. I understand, and will be discussing things with the SSA office nearest me. You are an excellent human, and I appreciate what you have done for me here.

 

[Onderzoek]

You need to find out your current Date Last Insured and to find out if you earn four credits in 2016 from a bona fide business or as an employee, how could your Date Last Insured be extended to a later date. Someone can run a program to come up with an estimate. May also ask for a benefit estimate but until you are actually insured, the amount will not be that accurate. But at least you would have an idea.