Well, just signed up H for Medicare part A and B starting in April 2016. Surprisingly easy to do.
I finally received the correct 1099 from my Senator’s office. The nice woman there said that what I received is also reported to the IRS, so I guess all is good.
Just keep track of the paperwork. It’s fairly common for me to run into issues with IRS for issues with 1099’s, and it’s always been resolved easily when I’ve sent them a brief explanation and the supporting docs. (For me it’s a different issue-- I’ve written several books for hire, and the publisher has always labeled the payments as royalties on their 1099s – but I correctly report it as self-employment income – and then IRS thinks I haven’t reported a different source of income. )
Is the “corrected” box checked?
Yes.
Oh yeah!!!
Spent 90 minutes waiting in a really icky area ( at least the restroom was clean).
Just to meet with a clerk who gave us an apt. on April 13th to file and suspend.
At least the guy knew what we were trying to do.
Every office in our area is having you wait to schedule a later appointment and using the date you schedule as your
application date.
Uh no-- no paperwork to prove this. Much to H’s dismay I got the guy to give me his name and write out what he told us .
Think I might ask Donald about this
I start Medicare March 1. Payment to be taken out of SS…which is great. My new direct SS deposit will be…Tada…ten cents per month!
Don’t spend it all in one place!
The amount of time the guy spent setting up our appt. for April and explaining things to us --well, pretty sure we could have taken care of our business completely.
What a wasteful situation.
Thought I would update this talk. Tomorrow H and I have our appt. that was set up in mid February for H to file and suspend.
I’ll keep you posted!
VP, H has instructions not to give a routing number for our bank account. In fact, he will not have it on him at all.
Speaking of updates . . . .
According to SS, I have indeed filed and suspended. They have it in their system. I was supposed to get a letter confirming this last December, when I filed and suspended. I did not receive my letter, so I called SS on March 2. Yes indeedy, they can see in my file that I have filed and suspended. They can see that the letter was requested to be generated. It must be a holdup in the mail room. They will ask to have it produced and sent again.
On Mach 15, I called again and we went through the same rigamarole.
On March 29, I called again and we went through the same rigamarole.
I have still not received my letter, so I will be calling again today, and going though the same rigamarole.
This time, I’m going to ask if going to my local SS office and asking them to produce the letter while I wait will be productive.
This is nuts.
Too late to edit my post above.
I just got off the phone with another lovely person who can also see that I have filed and suspended and who also has no idea why I haven’t received my letter. The person on the phone agreed that just putting another note in the system to generate a letter is just going to be the same thing everyone else has already done, so she has asked “Annette,” who is a troubleshooter, to investigate, and Annette will absolutely, positively call me back today or tomorrow. Annette is very good at following up and at resolving these issues.
I asked if going to my local SS office and asking them to generate a letter on-site would be useful. She said that the local SS office cannot generate the letter, so I shouldn’t waste my time. She again confirmed that I am in the system as “filed and suspended,” and she doesn’t understand why I haven’t received my letter yet.
Sigh.
I just want the damn letter in my hands so I know for sure that DH will be able to receive my spousal benefit starting when he turns age 66, next January, and so I know that I won’t get any grief from SS.
ETA: The woman I was speaking to called me back. She has spoken with Annette. Annette spoke to the supervisor. They will generate my letter. She completely understands my frustration. If I don’t receive the letter by 4/25, I should call back. But she says I will.
Anyone wanna take bets?
Sorry to bore you with all the details. But I find this – weird.
We arrived about 15 minutes early. The waiting room was standing room only. One security guard and no metal detector. It felt very unsafe.
Our appointment was with “M” who started out questioning what we were doing and suggesting that there maybe issues. I, of course, insisted we had our information, that we had paid for this information, and so on.She then made some clarifications and what she was thinking made sense but did not apply.
H was asked for a bank routing number, although she acknowledge it could change by the time he reaches 70. We refused.
She questioned whether I would be better off receiving my own and discussed the % increase plus the cost of living each year. Confusing the pot but overall OK (only because we have educated ourselves).
She suggested that I file for my August birthdate–so as to not delay 1st payment and not need to come into the office again. I asked questions, expressed concerns, and did do the paperwork. Went fine. Did give a bank routing #.
I asked over and over for paperwork stating what happen during this appointment. She gave H some papers and not one states he filed and suspended. She showed us a computer screen where it said it but nothing printable. I did receive some papers that clearly state my intention to receive spousal benefits and the correct date of filing.
She did give us her private line and name.
Our worker has been with SS for 12 years and proved to be knowledgable.
Not until H and I receive our letter will I feel certain that everything is in order.
SO–
2 visits and a two phone calls to get my account open (we have our credit frozen so could not activate my account. Two workers plus ours today did not know that one had to be unfrozen as this is the information the government uses. I finally figured it out by hunting through the website).
1hr plus on phone getting nowhere
One more visit to get the appointment for today–waited 1.5 to establish an appt.
One hour appointment today.
VP, groan! Keep us posted!
@oregon101, why did you need to have your credit unfrozen? What account did you need to activate? I missed that part. I ask because my credit is frozen, too, and I’ll be applying for SS in about 18 months and will be filing for spousal benefits, too. Am I going to have to unfreeze my credit when I apply?
Do your have your SS online account set up already? If so you do not have a problem.
Yes, I believe it is Equinox they use. The government uses your credit information to establish you. I found this information in a back page of FAQ’s. If you cannot find it pm me and I will see if I can find it again.
I just unfroze that one and then had it refrozen after my account was working. Cost me $10.
Ah, okay. I do have my SS account set up online so I guess the frozen credit won’t be an issue for me. Thanks!
Gotta love SS and Medicare!
Because I’m a retired teacher in CT, my SS benefit is reduced by 2/3. So my actual take home benefit was $170.00. I got a letter from Medicare telling me my Medicare monthly cost was $170 because we are “high wage earners” and this would be deducted from my SS starting with my March SS deposit. So of course, I was expecting $0 deposit.
Then I got a second letter telling me my new SS benefit would be…Tada…ten cents a month. Now how dos that happen if my Medicare payment was supposed to be $170? Whatever…they put ten cents in my checking account in March…and again in April.
But wait! I also,have to pay $38.10 every three months as a high wage earner for Part D. I got that bill last week. Woohoo.
Oh, and for the record…I am not the high wage earner…my husband I guess is.
So…for those of you not getting letters from SS…would you like a few of mine regarding Medicare?
I’m expecting another letter soon…with a bill for $170 a month…because last year I earned $24,000.
What fun.
I think if I don’t get my letter from SS, my next stop will be to contact my senator. He (actually, his staff) was very helpful in my getting the corrected 1099 from SS.
“Because I’m a retired teacher in CT, my SS benefit is reduced by 2/3. So my actual take home benefit was $170.00. I got a letter from Medicare telling me my Medicare monthly cost was $170 because we are “high wage earners” and this would be deducted from my SS starting with my March SS deposit. So of course, I was expecting $0 deposit.”
You’re lucky. My wife’s ss based on my work history will be reduced to 0.
@DocT well…right now my SS benefit is 10 cents a month…