R became disabled from gainful work on November 15 1960, when he was only 26 years old. He inquired about disability benefits in a letter to his social security office in March 1961.

R needed 20 quarters of work credits in the 10 years prior to becoming disabled in order to achieve insured status for disability purposes. His earnings record showed that he only had 16 quarters of credit. These quarters of credit were for the years 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1960.

However, in May 1961 R filed a formal disability application and, at the same time, provided proof that he had earned $1,500 of self-employment income as a painter in 1957. The reason these earnings did not appear on his record is that he was not required to file a tax return that year and elected not to file.

The question arose as to whether R’s earnings record could be revised to reflect the 1957 earnings. A request to revise one’s earnings record to include self-employment income was considered timely if brought to the attention of social security within 3 years 3 months and 15 days of the end of the taxable year in which such earnings were made.

In addition, a provision in the law provided that if the time limit for revising one’s earnings record to include self-employment income had expired, a person’s earnings record could still be revised to include omitted self-employment earnings if the person filed an application for monthly social security benefits within the time limit following that year, as long as no final decision on the benefits application had been made.

The question was whether R’s benefits application had been made in a timely fashion. A provision in the relevant regulations provided that an application for monthly benefits is deemed to have been filed on the date he indicates an intent in writing to file an application for such benefits, as long as the formal application for benefits is received by the social security office within six months from the date he is notified by social security of the need to file an application on a prescribed form.

In the instant case R had filed a written request inquiring about disability benefits on March 3 1961. He was informed by social security about the need to file an application on a prescribed form, and did so on May 4 1961, well within the six month period. Thus, his application for disability insurance benefits was deemed to have been filed on March 3, 1961. Because this was within 3 years 3 months and 15 days from the end of the year for which he sought to include omitted self-employment earnings on his record (1957), and no final determination had been made on his application for monthly benefits, his earnings record was revised to include the 1957 self-employment earnings.

Because of this, R had the requisite 20 quarters of credit, and was fully insured for disability purposes.

See Social Security Ruling (SSR) 62-28.

This material should not be construed as legal advice for any particular fact situation, but is intended for general informational purposes only. For advice specific to any individual situation, an experienced attorney should be contacted.