Did You Make Mistake for Social Security Protective Filing Date?

Did You Make Mistake for Social Security Protective Filing Date?
A woman looks at notices regarding measures in place during the coronavirus pandemic displayed outside a US Social Security Administration building, November 5, 2020, in Burbank, California. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
Tom Margenau
Updated:

This is going to be a column about a special procedure that the Social Security Administration routinely uses that’s intended to help people by protecting their rights to possible benefits. It’s called a “protective filing date.” In a nutshell, if you contact the SSA and tell them you intend to file for some kind of Social Security benefit and give them your name and Social Security number, it establishes a record that could possibly be used as a starting date for any Social Security application you might file later on. However, that protective date is usually good for only six months.

The best way to explain this procedure in more detail is by answering some questions I got from readers about this issue.

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
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