The 1 Social Security Move Every American Must Complete Before Filing Taxes in 2026

Tax season already pulls all your income records together, which makes it the right time to review something many people overlook: their Social Security earnings history.

Those records are used to calculate future benefits, and even one missing or misreported year can lower monthly checks for life. Spending a few minutes to confirm the numbers before filing taxes is a simple way to protect future income and maximize your senior benefits.

Here's why this deserves a place on your tax-season checklist.

How Social Security uses your earnings record

Social Security does not pay a flat benefit. Instead, your retirement or disability check is built from what you earned over your working life.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) takes your inflation-adjusted earnings for each year you paid payroll taxes, selects your 35 highest-earning years, and uses those figures to calculate your retirement or disability benefit. If a year is missing or shows lower earnings than you actually made, that year counts as low income or even zero, which pulls your benefit down permanently.

Those earnings come from tax records. Employers report wages on W-2s, and self-employed workers report net earnings on their tax returns. The IRS passes that information to Social Security, and in most cases, the process works as intended.

But the system depends on everything being reported correctly. When something goes wrong, like a typo or a name change that wasn't updated, those earnings may never be credited to you.

Switching jobs can create reporting errors

Switching jobs often means switching payroll systems, and that's where mistakes can slip in. A wrong Social Security number, a misspelled name, or mismatched records can send your wages into Social Security's "suspense file" instead of your earnings history.

One SSA audit, for instance, found nearly 19% of reported wages in a large employer sample failed to match worker records. When that happens, those earnings do not count toward your future benefits unless you correct them.

Name changes or SSN errors can split your record

If you marry, divorce, or update your name but never notify Social Security, part of your work history may stay tied to the old name. Employers may also use outdated information from an old card or file. Even small differences can keep an entire year of income from showing up on your record.

Self-employment income can be easier to miss

If you're self-employed or a gig worker, you report your earnings on Schedule C or SE to the IRS, not on a W-2. If income is underreported, filed late, or linked to the wrong Social Security number, those earnings may never appear in your history. Over time, missing years can quietly drag down your future benefit.

Missing forms can mean missing earnings

When an employer fails to file a W-2, files it late, or shuts down before reporting wages, that income may never reach Social Security's system. The same issue can happen with missing 1099s from freelance or contract work. In both cases, the income exists, but it may not be credited.

Before you send in your tax return, gather every wage statement and compare them with what shows on your Social Security account. If a year looks unusually low or shows zero earnings, your old pay stubs or tax return can help confirm what should be there.

The wage cap can look like an error

Social Security only counts earnings up to a yearly limit. For 2026, that cap is $184,500, up from $176,100 in 2025.

If you earned more than the limit, Social Security will still record only the capped amount. That is normal and not an error, though it can look strange if you are not expecting it.

Seeing an exact number like $184,500 usually means you hit the maximum for that year. The main thing to check is that at least the full capped amount appears correctly on your record.

The narrow window to correct earnings

It's tempting to think you can fix any mistake later, when retirement is closer. In reality, though, it gets much harder with time.

In most cases, you have 3 years, 3 months, and 15 days after the year the wages were earned to request a correction. Earnings from 2023, for example, generally must be fixed by April 15, 2027. After that window closes, correcting old wages can become difficult.

Fixing an error also requires documentation such as W-2s, tax returns, or pay stubs. As years pass, those records are easier to lose, and employers may no longer exist.

Social Security itself warns that once enough time has passed, older tax documents can be hard to obtain, and verification may not be possible.

How to review and fix your record

Social Security offers a free online account at mySocialSecurity.gov where you can see every year of reported wages. Once logged in, compare each year with your tax returns, W-2s, and 1099s.

If something looks wrong, you can request a correction using Form SSA-7008 or contact Social Security directly. You'll need proof such as old W-2s, tax returns, or pay stubs. After reviewing the documents, SSA updates your record to reflect the correct earnings.

The key is to act while records are still easy to find and deadlines haven't passed. Reviewing your record during tax season gives you the best chance to resolve issues while they're still fixable.

Bottom line

Tax season already has you focused on numbers that affect your future, which makes it a natural time to check your Social Security earnings record.

Making sure every year of work is recorded correctly helps your future checks reflect what you actually earned, not what happened to be reported. It's a simple step that keeps your retirement plan on solid footing and protects the benefits you've spent a lifetime paying into.

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