Social Security Disability Information

• Beneficiaries living in Michigan are part of 8 million people in the Chicago Region who receive Social Security disability and other benefits from the federal agency each month. The Chicago Region is made up of six states: Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Fifty of the 224 local field offices are located in Michigan. There are also nine Determination Centers and a Processing Center within the Chicago Region to help Michigan residents apply and receive SSA disability benefits.
  
  

Eligibility Requirements

• Applicants from Michigan have the meet several requirements to qualify for SSA benefits. They must have disabilities considered terminal or last for 12 months and longer. Applicants must have paid into Social Security when they were employed and have accrued the required number of work credits based on their ages. Work credits are earned when workers make $1,120 per year up to a maximum of four. The minimum amount of work credits need to qualify for SSA disability benefits is 40 but younger workers who cannot meet this requirement due to their medical conditions are the exceptions.
  
  

Payment Amounts and Taxation

• Michigan beneficiaries do not have to pay taxes on their Social Security disability benefits unless their total incomes exceed the program's income guidelines. For instance, if individuals and married couples have household incomes exceeding $25,000 and $32,000 respectively, the Internal Revenue Service will tax 50 percent of their SSA benefits at normal income tax rates. Up to 85 percent of their SSA benefits are taxed if individuals' incomes top $34,000 and married couples over $44,000. Total incomes include taxable compensation such as dividends, interests and wages.
  
  

Considerations

• The SSA allows Michigan beneficiaries to receive both Social Security Disability benefits and income payments from workers' compensation insurance and public sources of disability insurance at the same time. However, if the individuals' combined benefits exceed 80 percent of their pre-disability earnings, the SSA decreases their disability payments dollar for dollar.