"AOD" is the alleged onset date, the date you claim to have first become unable to work. This date is stated on your original disability application. It is the date Social Security will look back to in determining whether you were disabled on that date.
Because you cannot be disabled under Social Security regulations while you were engaged in substantial gainful work, wages or salary earned after your AOD are very problematic. Here's an example:
Henry says he became disabled on 5/1/12. This is his AOD. He wants Social Security to pay benefits back to 5/1/12. When the administrative law judge interfaces with the IRS and looks at Henry's earnings, however, she sees that he earned $28,537.19 during the third and fourth quarters of 2012 and that during the entire year he earned $51,911.26. The judge will automatically assume that Henry was working at substantial gainful activity well after his alleged onset date. If this is true, he will not be eligible for disability benefits in 2012.
Henry has 2 options. He may change his AOD to a later time after he stopped receiving wages (say 1/1/13). Or, he may provide proof that the earnings that show up on his record after 5/1/12 are not earnings but something else. For example, Henry may have received paid leave time, vacation pay or disability benefits from his employer. None of those payments will interfere with his Social Security benefit because they do not show that Henry was working.
Before you choose an alleged onset date (AOD) on your original application, you should determine the last day you worked. Normally, your AOD should be after your last day of full-time work. Also, if you were paid disability payments, vacation pay, sick leave pay or other benefits that were not wages, and these payments occurred after your AOD, you should be prepared to prove in writing that these payments were not wages, salary or earnings.
Won't the administrative law judge simply move my onset date forward if she finds that I worked after the AOD? Yes, probably. But I feel that claiming disability benefits while the claimant was still working hurts the credibility of the entire case by making it appear that the claimant is trying to claim something that cannot be paid under the regulations. I feel it is much better to nail down the correct AOD (date of onset) in the first place.
Because you cannot be disabled under Social Security regulations while you were engaged in substantial gainful work, wages or salary earned after your AOD are very problematic. Here's an example:
Henry says he became disabled on 5/1/12. This is his AOD. He wants Social Security to pay benefits back to 5/1/12. When the administrative law judge interfaces with the IRS and looks at Henry's earnings, however, she sees that he earned $28,537.19 during the third and fourth quarters of 2012 and that during the entire year he earned $51,911.26. The judge will automatically assume that Henry was working at substantial gainful activity well after his alleged onset date. If this is true, he will not be eligible for disability benefits in 2012.
Henry has 2 options. He may change his AOD to a later time after he stopped receiving wages (say 1/1/13). Or, he may provide proof that the earnings that show up on his record after 5/1/12 are not earnings but something else. For example, Henry may have received paid leave time, vacation pay or disability benefits from his employer. None of those payments will interfere with his Social Security benefit because they do not show that Henry was working.
Before you choose an alleged onset date (AOD) on your original application, you should determine the last day you worked. Normally, your AOD should be after your last day of full-time work. Also, if you were paid disability payments, vacation pay, sick leave pay or other benefits that were not wages, and these payments occurred after your AOD, you should be prepared to prove in writing that these payments were not wages, salary or earnings.
Won't the administrative law judge simply move my onset date forward if she finds that I worked after the AOD? Yes, probably. But I feel that claiming disability benefits while the claimant was still working hurts the credibility of the entire case by making it appear that the claimant is trying to claim something that cannot be paid under the regulations. I feel it is much better to nail down the correct AOD (date of onset) in the first place.
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