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Substantial Gainful Activity

Generally, if you are employed and have "countable earnings" over $1,090 per month in 2015, you are considered to be engaging in Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). If you are blind, the SGA level is $1,820 in 2015. These figures are automatically adjusted each year. SGA levels for other years may be found in the table below.

NOTE: For an explanation of the various ways in which the terms "Countable Earnings" and "Countable Income" are used in the Social Security programs, see: Countable Income and Countable Earnings Overview –SSI/DI.

If you are self-employed, the SSA does not consider your income alone when determining if you are engaging in SGA, since your actual income may not be the same as the value of your work activity. See Self-Employment Income and SGA for details about how SSA evaluates Self-Employment Income for purposes of determining whether or not you are engaging in Substantial Gainful Activity.

Effective January 2001, SSA will ordinarily consider an employee whose earnings are equal to or less than the SGA amount not to be engaging in SGA. SSA will go beyond looking at earnings only when circumstances indicate that an employee may actually be engaging in SGA or might be in a position to defer or suppress earnings -- for example, an individual working for a small corporation owned by a relative or by the individual. If evidence shows the individual is in a position to defer or suppress his/her earnings, than the work activity is comparable to an individual who is self-employed.

The effects of engaging in SGA are very different in the two programs. See SGA - SSI for more information on how SGA affects SSI (Title XVI) recipients; and see SGA - SSDI (Title II) for information on how engaging in SGA affects SSDI (Title II) beneficiaries and their dependents.

The table below shows SGA levels for earlier periods:

Effective Date	SGA	Blind SGA
January 2015	$1,090	$1,820
January 2014	$1,070	$1,800
January 2013	$1,040	$1,740
January 2012	$1,010	$1,690
January 2011	1,000	1,640
January 2010	1,000	1,640
January 2009	980	1,640
January 2008	940	1,570
January 2007	900	1,500
January 2006	860	1,450
January 2005	830	1,380
January 2004	810	1,350
January 2003	800	1,330
January 2002	780	1,300
January 2001	740	1,240
January 2000	700	1,170
July 1999	700	1,110
January 1999	500	1,110
January 1998	500	1,050

Source

http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/colafacts2012.htm

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