What Are SSI Work Incentive Programs?

Part of the process by which Social Security considers you disabled involves deciding that you’re unable to work full-time, so the agency keeps an eye on any financial signs that you might be regularly employed (in case it turns out that you’re no longer disabled). At the same time, Social Security understands that disability benefits aren’t always enough to make ends meet, and wants to avoid penalizing people with disabilities who are trying to return to work.

That’s why the agency runs several work incentive programs to help people who are receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) earn some wages without jeopardizing their monthly disability benefits. (Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI, has a different set of rules about returning to work.) If you’re thinking about getting back into the workforce, it’s important to know how to go about this responsibly so that you don’t have to worry about suddenly losing your SSI benefits.

Social Security’s Ticket to Work Program

Adults ages 18 through 64 who are approved for SSDI or SSI benefits due to a disability can apply for the Social Security Ticket to Work Program. Available in all states, Ticket to Work is a free employment services program that connects people with disabilities who are interested in finding work with career counselors, job placement opportunities, and vocational training.

These services can be provided through an employment network or your state’s vocational rehabilitation agency. You’ll be able to work with them to create a plan tailored to your specific work goals, and they’ll help you achieve certain earnings-related milestones. Additional benefits of the Ticket to Work program include not having to undergo continuing disability reviews while you’re participating and access to advocacy groups that can help remove employment barriers.

You can learn more about Ticket to Work at ssa.gov/work or choosework.ssa.gov. These official sites contain informative links, such as a calendar of interactive webinars that discuss how work can affect your Social Security benefits. Alternatively, you can call the Ticket to Work Help Line at 866-968-7842 (TTY 866-833-2967) from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can even sign up to receive texts about the program by texting TICKET to 571-489-5292.

Work Deductions, Exclusions, and Exemptions for SSI

SSI is a needs-based benefit, meaning that it’s only available to people who have income and assets below a certain low threshold. These resource limits can pose a challenge for SSI recipients who are seeking work, because any countable income you have in a month can reduce the amount of your SSI payments for that month.

To avoid disincentivizing people on SSI from trying to work, Social Security will leave out money that you’ve spent on certain types of expenses when calculating your countable income. These deductions, exclusions, and exemptions can save you hundreds of dollars in SSI benefits without having to give up work hours or wages.

Earned Income Exclusion

The earned income exclusion means that Social Security ignores the first $65 of any earnings you have in a month for the purposes of calculating SSI. (There’s also a general exclusion of $20 for any type of income, for a total of $85). The agency will then deduct one-half of your remaining earnings as well. After these exclusions are applied, you're left with what the SSA calls your "countable income."

For example, say you’re receiving SSI and start working part-time at a grocery store, earning $401 per month. To determine what your SSI amount should be, Social Security will look at your monthly wages ($401) and first subtract the $65 earned income exclusion ($401-$65=$336) and the $20 general exclusion ($336-$20=$316). The agency will then divide the $316 in half ($316÷2=$158). That final number, $158, is your countable income.

Social Security will subtract your countable income from the SSI federal benefit rate ($994 per month in 2026) to calculate how much you’ll get paid in SSI. In this scenario, you’d receive $836 in SSI ($994-$158=$836) in addition to your earned wages of $401. The total amount you’d have coming in then would be $1,237 ($836+$401), assuming your only source of money is SSI and your part-time job.

Because the math can get confusing, here’s a chart that can help you visualize what your estimated SSI payment would be at different amounts of countable income, based on the 2026 SSI federal benefit rate.

Keep in mind that many states offer a modest supplemental benefit (in addition to the federal rate) to residents who receive SSI, so your exact numbers may vary.

Impairment-Related Work Expenses

You can subtract certain disability-related expenses from your total income from work, lowering the amount by which your SSI check will be reduced. (20 C.F.R. § 404.1576(c)(2026).) Examples of impairment-related work expenses (IRWEs) may include:

• amounts paid for assistive or adaptive devices needed for work
• the cost of paratransit or taxi transportation to work
• the cost of adaptive automotive controls or devices, and
• medical expenses related to an impairment (not counting routine medical and dental treatment unrelated to your disability).

Learn more about IRWEs in our article on how impairment-related work expenses affect Social Security disability benefits.

Blind Work Expenses

As with IRWEs, blind SSI recipients can deduct certain work expenses from their gross work income. (20 C.F.R. § 416.1112 (2026).) The list of deductible blind work expenses is broader than deductible impairment-related work expenses, including:

• withheld taxes
• meals consumed during work hours
• licenses, fees, and union dues related to work or a profession
• adaptive devices for blind people, and
• costs of purchasing and maintaining a guide dog.

Unlike IRWEs, blind work expenses don’t have to be directly related to your disability.

Student Earned Income Exclusion

Social Security will ignore part of a student's work income when calculating SSI for eligible students. (20 C.F.R. § 416.1870 (2026).) You can qualify for the student earned income exclusion if you’re under age 22 and are regularly attending school as follows:

• in grades 7-12 for at least 12 hours per week
• in college or university for at least 8 hours per week, or
• in a training course to prepare for employment for at least 12 hours per week, or 15 hours per week if the course includes shop practice.

Individuals who are home-schooled because of their disability are also entitled to the exclusion. (20 C.F.R. § 416.1861 (2026).) The amount of the exclusion changes every year: in 2026, eligible students can exclude up to $2,410 of earned income per month, capped at a yearly maximum amount of $9,730.

Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS) Program

Social Security’s system of exemptions often isn’t sufficient to help people on SSI do much more than part-time work, since some of the wages can be deducted from their benefits. Under the PASS program, however, SSI recipients can set aside income or assets that would otherwise be deducted and put them towards a specific employment goal.

For example, say you’re working part-time and would like to try working full-time, but you need a car to get to your job. If you’re approved for PASS, you can set aside income that would otherwise be taken out of your SSI payments and set it aside to purchase a car.

Who Can Use the PASS Program?

You can apply for the PASS program if you’re eligible for SSI and have income that reduces your SSI payments. (You can also enroll in PASS if you’re “overresourced” for SSI but otherwise disabled, or if enrollment in PASS would ultimately help you reduce or eliminate your disability benefits.)

How Do I Apply for PASS?

You’ll need to complete Form SSA-545-BK, Plan to Achieve Self-Support. This form asks you to provide a written plan of action for a specific work goal (such as working 40 hours per week at a grocery store), including a reasonable time frame (typically, two to three years) and concrete steps that you’ll take in order to achieve that goal. You’ll also need to include any necessary expenses in furtherance of your work plan, such as the cost of purchasing a computer or smartphone.

When you’ve finished filling out Form SSA-545-BK, you can submit it to your local Social Security field office. If you want help applying for PASS, you can reach out to the “PASS cadre” in your area. “PASS cadres” are groups of Social Security employees who have special expertise in handling PASS applications. (You can find the contact information for your region’s PASS cadre here.)

Expedited Reinstatement of Benefits After a Work Attempt

Another way Social Security incentivizes SSI recipients to try to enter the workforce again is by allowing expedited reinstatement if their benefits were terminated due to a previous work attempt. For example, if your SSI payments initially stopped because you started to earn too much money, but you later reduced your hours or quit working again, you can submit a request to Social Security to have your benefits reinstated without having to file a new SSI application.

To qualify for expedited reinstatement of SSI benefits, you’ll need to submit updated medical evidence that demonstrates that you can't continue working at the level of substantial gainful activity because of your medical condition, and the condition is the same as (or related to) the medical impairment for which you were originally found disabled.

There are additional time limit restrictions to qualify for reinstatement of benefits. You can’t request benefits to be reinstated earlier than the month in which you apply, and the application must be submitted within five years from the month your benefits were terminated.

Continuing Medicaid Eligibility If Your SSI Stops Due to Work

If your income from work reaches the point that it fully "offsets" (erases) your SSI benefits, you’ll no longer receive cash benefits through the SSI program. But you can still receive Medicaid benefits as long as you meet all of the following requirements:

• You've received SSI for at least one month.
• You still meet Social Security’s definition of disability.
• You need Medicaid benefits to continue to work.

You would continue to be eligible for Medicaid until your gross income from work reaches a "threshold" amount. The threshold amount varies from state to state (reflecting cost-of-living differences in the various states) and is adjusted annually for inflation. Generally, the threshold represents a combination of the amount of earnings that would cause SSI payments to stop in your state and the average Medicaid expenses in your state.

Social Security's continued Medicaid eligibility page has the Medicaid threshold amounts by state. Social Security may deduct certain items from your income, like impairment-related work expenses, blind work expenses, or a PASS to calculate your earnings.

Do I Need Legal Help to Enroll in a Work Incentive Program?

SSI work incentive programs are available to people who’ve already been found disabled, so there’s little need for an attorney at this point—as long as you report your income to Social Security properly and fill out the correct paperwork on time, you shouldn’t need any legal help. But if your SSI benefits have been terminated or suspended and you can’t get them reinstated on your own, it can make sense to contact an experienced disability lawyer who can tell you what your options are.