Why Doesn’t My Social Security Record Show All My Military Earnings?

Dear Rusty: When I look at my earnings on my Social Security account, I see that in 1955 and 1956 have no earnings. I was in the U.S. Navy as a first officer and have my DD-214 paperwork which shows my military service from Oct. 1954-Oct. 1958. My Social Security earnings record shows that I had earnings in 1954, 1957, and 1958 but doesn’t show that I was paid in 1955 or 1956. Shouldn’t I have received Social Security credit for all my service years?

Signed: An Older Veteran 

Dear Older Veteran: First, I want to thank you for your military service. Whether your earnings while in the military would provide you with any additional Social Security benefit depends on your career earnings after leaving military service. Here’s why: 

Your monthly Social Security (SS) benefit is based upon the highest earning 35 years over your lifetime (with earlier years adjusted for inflation). From those highest earning 35 years, SS develops your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (your lifetime “AIME”) which is the basis of the SS benefit you get if you claim for benefits to start at your full retirement age (FRA). So, if – after you completed your military service – you had at least 35 years of other employment where you earned more money than you did while serving, then your military pay won’t affect your Social Security benefit. 

FYI, Social Security payroll tax has been withheld from military pay since 1957, which is why your SS earnings record shows your military pay only for 1957 and 1958.  Your SS record wouldn’t show military pay prior to 1957 because you didn’t contribute to SS from your military pay during those years. The earnings you see in your SS earnings record for 1954 are likely from non-military employment prior to starting active duty in October 1954.  

SS does provide older veterans with “special extra credits for military service,” but those credits are only a supplemental earnings amount added to your military pay record during the years you served. It is not a bonus amount added to your monthly Social Security payment; rather it is only an amount added to your military pay record used when calculating your Social Security benefit. For those who served prior to 1957, Social Security would have no record of your military earnings during those early service years. But when you claimed Social Security later in life, they would have asked if you served in the military and given you “special extra credit” in the form of presumed earnings for your service years. They likely asked for a copy of your DD-214 and would have added $160 to your military earnings record for each active-duty month from October 1954 through December 1956, and additional earnings credits for 1957 and 1958. 

But that doesn’t mean you get a special Social Security bonus for your military service. If you have at least 35 years of civilian employment after serving in the Navy, your service years would only affect your SS benefit if those military service years were among the highest paying 35 years over your entire lifetime. Click here to read more on this topic. And, again, please accept our appreciation for your service to our country. 

This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit our website (amacfoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisory) or email us at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org).