Retiree’s Farm Income Triggers Social Security Benefit Withholding Above $24,480
Updated
Updated · AOL · Aug 18
Retiree’s Farm Income Triggers Social Security Benefit Withholding Above $24,480
3 articles · Updated · AOL · Aug 18
Summary
$1 in benefits is withheld for every $2 earned above $24,480 in 2026 for people who claimed Social Security before full retirement age, and a 64-year-old farmland owner can trip that test by actively managing a crop-share lease.
Fixed cash rent generally stays classified as passive rental income and does not count toward the earnings test, even though it can still raise taxable Social Security income and later Medicare premiums.
Crop-share income can flip into net self-employment earnings when the owner materially participates by making management decisions, inspecting fields, sharing costs or supplying equipment; that income moves onto Schedule F and may also trigger self-employment tax.
Farmland REIT distributions bypass the earnings test because they are investment income, offering a cleaner passive option but giving the retiree shares in a land-owning company rather than direct control of a farm.