Audience:

DO/BO/TSC:

CR, CR TII, DRT, FR, OA, OS, RR, SR

OCO-ODO-IND:

CATA

OCO-ODO-SHARE:

BA, CA, RECONR

OCO-OIO:

BA, CA, CATA, CC, FCR, RECONR

PSC:

ADS, BA, CA, CCRE, CRTA, CS, DS, ICDS, IES, ILPDS, IPDS, ISRA, PETE, RECONR

Citations:

Act—Sections 202(a),(q); 227

Regulations No. 4—Sections 404.310-404.312

TN 5 (10-00)

A. Policy - general

To be entitled, a claimant must:

• Be fully insured, and

• Have attained age 62, and

• Have filed an application, or be entitled to Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) “for the month before the month of attainment of full retirement age.” See RS 00615.003 for the full retirement age (FRA) chart. (See GN 00201.005B.3. for additional information regarding DIB to RIB conversions.)

B. Policy - insured status

See RS 00301.105 for a discussion of fully insured status.

C. Policy - attainment of age

An individual born on the first or second day of the month (attainment of age 62 on the last day of the preceding month or the first day of the current month) could be entitled to benefits for the month of his or her 62nd birthday. Birth on any other day of the month would preclude entitlement for the month in which the birth occurs since the individual would not be age 62 for that entire month.

This provision applies only to claimants for retirement benefits who attain age 62 after August 1981. A claimant who was born on September 1, 1919 would attain age 62 on August 31, 1981, and could, therefore, be entitled for August because this provision would not apply.

D. Policy - applications

Prescribed applications include:

• SSA preprinted application forms,

• MCS application printouts, and

• Application printouts from SSA's website.

Printouts are provided after the claimant gives the answers to the application questions. “Printed applications” or “Computer-printed applications” may omit questions that the computer recognizes as irrelevant as a result of the answers to other questions. Phrasing may differ from that on the traditional printed forms. (See GN 00204.002 for additional information on prescribed applications; see GN 00204.001 for application policy instructions.)

E. References

• Retroactivity of an Application, GN 00204.030

• Month of Election, GN 00204.040

• Windfall Elimination Provision, RS 00605.360

• HI Entitlement, HI 00801.022

• Child Dependency, RS 01301.001