You can voluntarily suspend retirement benefits after reaching full retirement age and before 70 to earn delayed retirement credits. Benefits paid to family members on your record generally stop too, except a divorced spouse’s benefit. Medicare Part B premiums remain payable. Suspension also makes you ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Already receiving Social Security retirement benefits and considering a pause to raise your later payment? First work out how much income your household would lose. A spouse’s benefit on your record may stop too, and Medicare premiums still need to be paid.
Who can pause retirement payments?
Once you reach your full retirement age, and before age 70, you can ask Social Security for a voluntary suspension. Eligible months without payments earn delayed retirement credits. This option applies to people who have already claimed retirement benefits.
For people born in 1943 or later, SSA lists the delayed-credit rate as 8% for 12 months, or two-thirds of 1% per month. Credits stop at 70. Ask SSA for an estimate using your own claiming history and intended restart month; do not assume a standard example gives your future check. Also ask when all credits will appear: SSA says some credits may not be applied until the following January when payments start before 70.
Count the family payments that would stop
Under SSA’s current suspension rules, family benefits paid on your record also stop during your suspension. A divorced spouse receiving benefits on your record is an exception and can continue receiving them. If you personally receive benefits on someone else’s record, those payments are suspended too.
Consider this hypothetical household: your gross retirement benefit is $2,000 a month, and your spouse receives an $800 monthly spousal benefit entirely on your record. Your spouse has no separate retirement benefit. Assume six suspended benefit months before you turn 70, with both monthly amounts otherwise unchanged.
| Payment paused | Six-month gross total |
|---|---|
| Your $2,000 monthly benefit | $12,000 |
| Your spouse’s $800 monthly benefit | $4,800 |
| Household total | $16,800 |
Looking only at your check would understate the household’s forgone benefits by $4,800. This is a gross-benefit comparison, before taxes or premium deductions, with no cost-of-living change assumed. It is not an estimate of bank deposits or a calculation of when higher future payments would make up the difference.
There is another important limit for people receiving Supplemental Security Income: SSA says voluntarily suspending retirement benefits makes you ineligible for SSI. Do not budget for SSI to replace the paused retirement payment.
Arrange payment of Medicare premiums
If Part B premiums normally come out of your Social Security payment, that deduction cannot continue from a suspended benefit. CMS will bill you. Missing payments can lead to loss of Part B coverage.
Medicare says people billed for Part B only, including any Part B income-related adjustment, receive bills every three months. Use the amount and due date on your bill when planning cash flow. The official Medicare payment page explains account payments, bank payments, mail and Medicare Easy Pay. Easy Pay can take six to eight weeks to start; pay another way until deductions begin.
Match the benefit month to the deposit month
For someone already entitled to benefits, suspension begins no earlier than the month after the request. Benefits are paid a month after they are due. In SSA’s example, a June request still allows the June benefit to arrive in July. The July benefit is suspended, so the first normally expected deposit missing from that sequence is August.
Payments restart automatically for the month you reach 70. If you want to restart earlier, request reinstatement from SSA; it can take effect no earlier than the month after your request. Account for the payment lag when deciding how long your savings must last.
Get a household estimate before requesting the pause
Contact Social Security to confirm the suspension month, affected family benefits and estimated benefit when you restart. SSA accepts suspension requests orally or in writing. Bring the household’s benefit amounts and the months you are considering so the comparison includes more than your own payment.
Suspension is different from withdrawing a benefits application, a separate process with time limits and repayment requirements. If you have not claimed yet, our comparison of claiming at 62, 67 and 70 covers the initial claiming decision instead.
Prepared with AI assistance using the official sources below, checked October 31, 2026. The household figures are illustrative, not a personalized benefit estimate.
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