I am presently on Social Security disability and understand that I can only earn $800 per month in order not to affect the amount I receive. I am authoring a book and will be receiving a lump sum payment for it. Is it possible that even though I am getting paid in a lump sum that it can be spread out over the 12 months of the year so my benefits will not be affected?

Emily

Emily, this is what is referred to as "substantial gainful activity level" in the Social Security world. The "SGA" level is the amount of income that is permitted to be earned while a person is being paid retirement or disability benefits. You can learn more about this by viewing our archived e-Newsletter by clicking on the _link_ below.

The "SGA" amount will change with any cost of living increases (COLA's) that are implemented by Social Security. The 2010 SGA level is $1,000 per month. However, it if a person earns exactly $1,000 per month, Social Security will flag the claim and send out a "work activity" questionnaire to determine if they feel a person is working at "SGA" level.

Any work that a person performs while receiving benefits places benefits at risk. So keep that in mind.

Now, in your particular case where you received a lump sum payment for the work you performed in authoring a book, you would need to explain to Social Security by way of a "work activity" questionnaire how many hours you worked per week and over how many months you worked to earn this money. If the amount of hours you worked were part-time or less, and your earnings were less then the "SGA" level for the particular year you worked, then Social Security can decide to allow the earnings and your benefits would not be affected. Hopefully you kept a log of all of the hours you worked during the project and you will be able to prove to Social Security that you worked under "SGA" level while authoring a book.