Social Security: 6 Common Reasons Why You Cannot Receive Benefits

Close-up of hands holding a financial document and a calculator on a desk. — A person holds an open envelope and a calculator while reviewing documents to understand why their benefits were rejected.

Do you know why your Social Security is being rejected?

Social Security benefits have long been considered by many American workers to be the golden carrot that will be waiting for them at the end of their long careers.

Since we have been paying towards them all the years we have been working, it is something we expect to benefit from during our golden years.

You can theoretically get to take out some of your benefits once you turn 62, but if you delay taking out Social Security benefits until the age of 70, you can end up being able to withdraw a larger amount since the timeline has shrunk.

But this is all subject to whether or not you have earned enough credits in order to receive Social Security benefits to begin with!

The sad reality is that not everyone can look forward to these benefits, and some workers will not be able to benefit from them at all.

It is better to know about them and plan accordingly than to think about how you can rely on these benefits only to end up not being able to access them and thus ruining your retirement plans.

To be able to plan accordingly, we have brought you a handful of scenarios where you will not be eligible for Social Security!

What do you think about Social Security benefits? Do you plan to rely on them? Let us know in the comments down below!

Not enough Social Security credits

Not a lot of people are aware of the credits associated with the Social Security system, but we are here to explain how it works and how you can earn these credits.

The way through which you become eligible for the benefits is to have enough credits to qualify for the program.

You can get a total of four credits in one year, according to the Social Security Administration, and to be eligible to secure your spot, you need to have a total of 40 credits.

One credit is earned with every $1,640 in wages you receive from your job or from your self-employed income!

This means that as long as you earn $6,560 a year, you will be able to get the four credentials associated with that work year, and in 10 years, you will be eligible for Social Security benefits.

If you have not worked enough to have all these 40 credentials, you are automatically rejected from any Social Security benefits of any kind.

An illustration showing icons for railroad workers, teachers, police, and pre-1984 government workers. — A whistle, chalkboard, and police hat represent government sectors excluded from receiving Social Security benefits.

You’ve been a government employee

Yes, you are not going to be eligible to receive Social Security benefits if you have held government jobs.

The government is generally known for how it takes care of its employees, but some employees are employed by the state, municipality, or county and are not going to be able to receive these benefits.

Instead, they are going to be paying into and receiving a pension when they end up retiring, which is going to be a state-funded plan!

The employees who are going to be receiving pensions instead of being eligible for Social Security are:

railroad employees (under the pension system established back in the 1930s);
most of the first responders and safety personnel (including police and firefighters);
U.S. government employees who were hired before 1984, since they qualify under the old Civil Service Retirement System;
many K–12 teachers.

Debt that qualifies for garnishment

Private lenders are not generally a threat when it comes to your Social Security, but the benefits you receive may serve as garnishment for some types of debt.

Some of the most common types of debt that qualify for garnishment include child support, institutions, and alimony, but in most cases, the state will be the one to decide what is a valid order for them.

So if you end up receiving a letter that tells you you have been garnished for any of the reasons we have mentioned above, you need to contact the state government and not the Social Security Administration since they are not in charge of it.

Another exception you may have guessed that could end up making you not receive all your benefits includes tax debt. This time, the Department of the Treasury can issue an order for up to 15% of your SS benefits, which will be taken until your tax debt is paid in full.

What’s more, the Treasury Department can end up garnishing benefits for other types of nontax debt as well, including but not limited to federal student loans that have been defaulted on.

An infographic showing that $1,640 equals 1 credit and 40 credits are needed for Social Security. — This progress chart illustrates how annual earnings convert into the forty credits required for Social Security eligibility.

Failed to pay self-employment taxes properly

If you are self-employed, you need to be careful with your taxes, as they can end up making you ineligible for Social Security benefits in retirement.

Not only are you responsible for paying your own Social Security taxes as an individual, but your business as well.

So it may seem like you have to pay twice, but in reality, you are fulfilling your obligations on your behalf and on behalf of your business.

You need to pay your self-employment tax at the same time as your federal tax return.

If you file your taxes incorrectly or do not file your tax returns, you are not going to be able to rack up enough Social Security credits to receive them.

And in the end, you can end up in a lot of legal trouble if these taxes are not paid.

You retired in a foreign country

Yes, the foreign country retirement that many people dream of may put your Social Security benefits in jeopardy.

Some of the countries outside of the United States mainland territory are exempt from this rule, and you will not have issues with your Social Security.

These territories include Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Other countries may also be exempt, but in order to see if you are still eligible to receive Social Security payments, you should check the “Payments Abroad Screening Tool” you can find on the Social Security Administration’s site.

Despite these exemptions and the possibility of being able to still receive these payments, there are certain countries where the U.S. will definitely not send payment.

These countries are Belarus, Cuba, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, and North Korea.

A desk with a calendar and divorce papers, highlighting the 10-year marriage requirement for benefits. — Hands rest beside marriage dissolution papers and a marked calendar, highlighting life changes that impact your benefits.

You have divorced

There are a couple of issues with Social Security benefits when you end up divorcing your ex-partner, especially if you end up relying on their credits and half of their benefits.

To be able to receive half of their benefits, you need to be single, at least 62 years old and have made less money and thus more benefits than your ex-spouse over the course of your employment history.

If you do not meet these criteria, then you need to prepare yourself for not being eligible to get your ex-spouse’s benefits.

Likewise, if you have been married for less than 10 years, even if you meet all these other criteria, you still lose access to your ex-spouse’s benefits.

If you want to understand Social Security better but find it hard to make your way through a lot of the official texts, this book from Amazon explains everything and is updated for the current year!
If you know that you do not qualify under any of these sections, then you have a high chance of receiving the benefits. However, do you know how you can maximize the amount on your check? If you’re curious about it, this article is for you: Social Security Cheat Sheet: Maximize Benefits With These 7 Tips.