Social Security Appeals Have a 60-Day Clock — and Missing It Can Make a Bad Decision Stick

If you receive a letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) saying that your benefits have been denied, reduced or changed, you generally only have 60 days to submit an appeal.

This short window means you should address the issue right away, despite how tempting procrastinating may be. Here’s how you can appeal if you don't think your government checks are accurate.

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How Social Security’s 60-day appeal deadline works

The 60-day countdown starts when you receive Social Security’s letter detailing the changes to your benefits. Since it’s impossible to know for certain when the letter will arrive in your mailbox, the SSA counts it as received five days after the notice was sent. The only exception is if the claimant can prove that it arrived later.

Although the 60-day deadline is intact, it will be pushed to the next workday if the 60th day falls on the weekend, a federal holiday or certain federal non-workdays that are different from holidays.

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The exact instructions in your notice will serve as the starting point for the appeals process. Then, you will go through the four stages of an appeal, as outlined by Social Security:

• Reconsideration
• Hearing before an administrative law judge
• Appeals Council review
• Federal district court case

The SSA offers links on its site that make it easy to initiate each of these steps as needed.

What happens if you miss the deadline

It’s optimal to make the 60-day deadline, but all isn’t lost if you are a few days late. The SSA can extend the filing deadline when circumstances reasonably prevent someone from appealing on time.

The SSA lists examples of good cause for late filing, including a serious illness, a death in the family or misleading information from the government. It’s a good idea to review the complete list to see if any of the good cause options apply to you.

What to do as soon as you get a decision you disagree with

The first step is to establish the 60-day deadline. The countdown starts five days after Social Security sent out the notice. You can find the date of the notice and add five to it to determine when the countdown begins. However, if you received it more than five days later, you should document that information to extend your deadline.

It’s likely best to not instead wait until the final eligible week to submit your appeal. An attorney can assist with your appeal, but representation is not required to preserve the deadline or submit the appeal.

Once you submit an appeal, you can check its status through your “my Social Security” account. This account also has other resources that can provide clarity about your recorded earnings history, projected benefits and other details.