What is the Effective Date for an SSI Application?

If you are applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits from the Social Security Administration, a key date in any month is the “effective date” of your application.

Determining the “effective date” is straightforward. The effective date of an SSI application is always the first day of the next month, that is, the month following your application. For example, if you apply on April 15th, the effective date of your application would be May 1st.

This is important because applying on April 29th is different from applying two days later on May 1st and could mean losing one month of benefits. Why? There is no retroactivity with SSI claims. On the other hand, claims for Social Security Disability benefits may be retroactive from six months to one year before the date an application is filed.

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