SSA Benefits Online

Special Minimum Benefit

“Special minimum” benefits are payable to certain individuals with long periods of relatively low earnings. To qualify for such benefits, an individual must have at least 11 “years of coverage.”

To earn a year of coverage for purposes of the special minimum, a person must earn at least a certain proportion (25 percent for years before 1991; 15 percent for years after 1990) of the “old-law” contribution and benefit base.

SSA provides tables showing the range minimum primary insurance amounts (PIA) from 1973 to the present. If no benefit increase became effective in the year you select, we will give you the table for the last prior year in which an increase became effective. Go to> http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/tableForm.html