When it comes to claiming your Social Security benefits, there is a lot of confusion. In particular, many seniors do not know when their full retirement age (FRA) is for Social Security. Some seniors also incorrectly believe that if you claim Social Security before FRA, benefits are recalculated once you reach that milestone age.
This is, as a general rule, not true. Typically, if you claim benefits at a younger age, you are hit with early filing penalties that permanently reduce the value of your benefits -- sometimes by as much as 30%.
However, there are two ways that you can end up getting back the money you lost in early filing penalties, so you aren't left coping with a lower Social Security check for the rest of your life.
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1. Rescind your Social Security benefits claim
The first and most straightforward way to undo early filing penalties is to undo your early Social Security claim. You can rescind your benefits claim within 12 months of making it if you have decided you have changed your mind.
Rescinding your claim will mean that the Social Security Administration treats you as though you have never claimed benefits before. Any early filing penalties that applied to reduce your benefits as a result of claiming before full retirement age will no longer apply. You can claim again later when doing so fits better into your retirement planning, and your benefit will be calculated based on your age at the time.
There is one big catch with rescinding benefits, though, which makes this option hard for most retirees. When you rescind a benefits claim, you must pay back all benefits that you received to date. This includes any benefits you collected and, if someone else got benefits on your work record, such as spousal benefits for your husband or wife, all this has to be paid back as well.
Most people don't just have cash sitting around in their bank account or retirement plans to enable them to repay months of benefits, so there's a very real chance that this won't be an option for you. After all, pulling thousands of dollars from a 401(k) or IRA just to undo an early Social Security claim could put you in a much more precarious position.
Still, if you haven't collected much money or do have the funds to pay back what the Social Security Administration sent you, rescinding your claim would let you get those early filing penalties erased so your future retirement checks aren't reduced.
2. Work enough that you forfeit your benefits
You also have another potential option if you regret an early Social Security claim. You can try to work so much that you forfeit the benefits you wish you hadn't claimed.
See, if you work before your full retirement age while also collecting Social Security, this can result in a reduction in benefits. In 2025, you lose $1 for every $2 earned above $23,400 if you won't reach FRA at all during the year, and $1 for every $3 earned above $62,160 if you will hit FRA at some point during the year but haven't yet. These limits will increase due to inflation in 2026, as well as in subsequent years.
When you forfeit benefits, whole checks can disappear, and, at FRA, you are credited back for the early filing penalties in months you didn't get a benefit due to working and earning too much. So, if you work enough, you could end up eliminating all of your Social Security payments you would have collected before FRA -- and thus could make those early filing penalties a non-issue.
Of course, this depends on you being able to get a job that pays enough. But if you are frustrated with the fact that you claimed benefits early and wish you hadn't, this is one approach worth looking into since it's one of just a few ways you can avoid taking a permanent hit.
