COLAs Announcement

You have already heard about the costs of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits, but that is not the only COLA that Social Security computes. The agency has published in the Federal Register the full list of COLAs for 2007. Here is a summary:

1) A 3.3 percent cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act), effective for December 2006;
(2) An increase in the Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly benefit amounts under title XVI of the Act for 2007 to $623 for an eligible individual, $934 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $312 for an essential person;
(3) The student earned income exclusion to be $1,510 per month in 2007 but not more than $6,100 in all of 2007;
(4) The dollar fee limit for services performed as a representative payee to be $34 per month ($66 per month in the case of a beneficiary who is disabled and has an alcoholism or drug addiction condition that leaves him or her incapable of managing benefits) in 2007;
(5) The dollar limit on the administrative-cost assessment charged to attorneys representing claimants to be $77 in 2007;
(6) The national average wage index for 2005 to be $36,952.94;
(7) The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) contribution and benefit base to be $97,500 for remuneration paid in 2007 and self-employment income earned in taxable year beginning in 2007;
(8) The monthly exempt amounts under the Social Security retirement earnings test for taxable years ending in calendar year 2007 to be $1,080 and $2,870;
(9) The dollar amounts (``bend points'') used in the primary insurance amount benefit formula for workers who become eligible for benefits, or who die before becoming eligible, in 2007 to be $680 and $4,100;
(10) The dollar amounts (``bend points'') used in the formula for computing maximum family benefits for workers who become eligible for benefits, or who die before becoming eligible, in 2007 to be $869, $1,255, and $1,636;
(11) The amount of taxable earnings a person must have to be credited with a quarter of coverage in 2007 to be $1,000;
(12) The ``old-law'' contribution and benefit base to be $72,600 for 2007;
(13) The monthly amount deemed to constitute substantial gainful activity for statutorily blind individuals in 2007 to be $1,500, and the corresponding amount for non-blind disabled persons to be $900;
(14) The earnings threshold establishing a month as a part of a trial work period to be $640 for 2007; and
(15) Coverage thresholds for 2007 to be $1,500 for domestic workers and $1,300 for election workers.

Everyone's pay went up except for attorneys who represent Social Security claimants. Their pay will go down by $2 a case.