Retroactive Benefits

Retroactive benefits are SSDI payments for months before the date you filed your application. If the evidence shows your disability began early enough, SSDI can pay up to 12 months of benefits prior to the application month, after accounting for the five-month waiting period. In practice, that means your established onset date must be at least 17 months before you applied to receive the full 12 retroactive months.

Retroactive benefits are distinct from ordinary back pay, which covers the months between filing and approval. SSI has no retroactivity at all; SSI payments can never begin before the month after you applied. This difference is one reason filing promptly, and preserving an early protective filing date, is so important.