The Social Security offset: why your long-term disability check shrinks
Enter the plan benefit before offsets and the Social Security award, with any family benefits. The calculator shows the plan check now and what both pay together later.
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Plan check after the offset, a month
$3,000
$5,000 a month from the plan and Social Security together
| Subtracted by the plan | $2,000 |
| Plan check | $3,000 |
| Social Security in 10 years | $2,438 |
| Plan check in 10 years | $3,000 |
| Both together in 10 years | $5,438 |
An award that comes late is often paid as a lump sum for past months; the plan then asks back what it overpaid.
Compiled by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · IRS rules and BLS plan data read November 7, 2026
Group long-term disability plans list Social Security disability among the other income they subtract from their benefit. If the plan pays $5,000 a month before offsets and Social Security awards $2,000, the plan check falls to $3,000 and the total stays at $5,000 before tax. Benefits paid to your children or spouse on your record are often subtracted too: with $1,000 of family benefits, the plan pays $2,000, or its minimum if the contract has one. The offset clause decides what happens next. When the offset is frozen at the first award, later cost-of-living raises stay with you: with a 2% raise each year, the total grows to $5,438 after ten years. When the plan subtracts each raise, the total stays at $5,000. An award paid late comes with back pay for past months, and the plan recovers what it overpaid in the meantime. Both benefits have their own tax rules.
How the offset works
A group long-term disability plan promises a share of your earnings, and counts what other programs pay toward that share. The clause, usually titled other income benefits or deductible sources of income, lists them: Social Security disability benefits paid to you, benefits paid to your dependents because of your disability, workers' compensation, state disability benefits, some pensions, and earnings if you work. The plan pays the difference between its gross benefit and their total, but not less than its minimum benefit, a fixed amount or a percentage stated in the contract.
Social Security itself is not reproduced here: whether you qualify and how much the award is are decisions of the Social Security Administration, and the amount you enter is the one on your award letter or statement. The calculator applies the plan side of the arithmetic.
Your plan check after the award
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Plan check after the offset, a month
$3,000
| Subtracted by the plan | $2,000 |
| Plan check | $3,000 |
| Social Security in 10 years | $2,438 |
| Plan check in 10 years | $3,000 |
Family benefits and the minimum
When dependents receive benefits on your record, many plans subtract them too, which can bring the plan check down to its minimum. In the example of the summary, a $5,000 gross benefit, a $2,000 award and $1,000 of family benefits leave $2,000 from the plan with a $100 minimum. Minimums are often small; their value is to keep the claim open, with its other benefits such as a return-to-work program or a survivor benefit. Enter the minimum from your summary in the calculator options.
Frozen or indexed: the clause that matters over years
Social Security benefits receive a cost-of-living adjustment most years. A plan with a frozen offset subtracts the amount of the first award forever, so each raise adds to your total income; a plan without that clause subtracts the new amount each year, so its check falls as Social Security rises and your total stays where it started. Over a claim of ten or twenty years the difference becomes large. The calculator uses a raise you choose; enter zero to see today's figures only. It is an assumption, not a forecast.
Back pay and overpayment
Social Security decisions take months, and awards are often paid back to the date benefits began. During that time the plan has usually paid its full benefit, or a benefit reduced by an estimate. When the back pay arrives, the plan claims the difference. With six months of a $2,000 award, that is $12,000. Insurers often ask claimants to sign a reimbursement agreement, and may recover the amount by holding future checks. Keep the back pay until the insurer has stated the overpayment in writing.
Tax on both checks
The plan check follows the premium rule of IRS Publication 525: taxable if the employer paid or the premium was deducted pre-tax. Social Security disability follows Publication 915: nothing is taxable while your other income plus half the benefits stays under $25,000 for a single filer or $32,000 for a married couple filing jointly, then up to 50% and finally up to 85% of the benefits. A back payment covering earlier years can be spread over those years with the lump-sum election described in the same publication. The tax calculator accepts both incomes.