AmericanWannabe said:
Within one calendar year, it is the salary that matters. A one with annual salary $ 100,000 work only in January earns the same credits as the one
whose annualy salary is 10,000 and work from Jannuary to Dec because
they paid teh same amount of SS tax in that year
Ok I agree salary matters BUT who cares if you earn 100000 you only need a small pittance to earn the credits in a year.
www.ssa.gov
Question
What are credits and how do I earn them?
Answer
Credits are the "building blocks" we use to find out whether you have the minimum amount of covered work to qualify for each type of Social Security benefits. If you stop working before you have enough credits to qualify for benefits, your credits will stay on your record. If you return to work later, you can add more credits so that you can qualify. No benefits can be paid if you do not have enough credits.
You earn up to a maximum of 4 credits for each year by working in jobs covered by Social Security or by operating your own business as a self-employed person.
Before 1978, when employers reported your wages every 3 months, we called credits "quarters of coverage", or QCs. Back then, you got a QC or credit if you earned at least $50 in a 3-month calendar quarter.
Starting with 1978, employers report earnings just once a year. Credits are now based on your total wages and self-employment income during the year, no matter when you do the actual work. You might work all year to earn your 4 credits, or you might earn enough for all 4 in a much shorter length of time.
The amount of earnings it now takes to earn a credit changes each year. In 2005, you earn one credit for each $920 of your earnings. So if you have earned at least $3680 during the year, you get the maximum 4 credits.
During your lifetime, you will probably earn more credits than the minimum number you need to be eligible for benefits. These extra credits don't increase your benefit amount, however; it is your average earnings over your working years that determine how much your monthly payment will be. (NOTE: You do not earn credits for pension payments or for interest or dividends on savings and investments. You do not pay Social Security tax on that kind of income.)
About your credits for last year and this year: When we prepare a Social Security Statement at your request, your earnings for last year may not be on record yet and this year's earnings won't be reported until next year. Therefore, we use the earnings information you gave us on your request form to assume that you have up to additional 8 credits for those years (1-4 credits per year, depending on the earnings amount). For the automatic Statements, we use your latest posted earnings for either last year or the year before to give you these credits. (In 2005, the years we look at are 2004 and 2003.) If you don't have any earnings on record for either year or don't tell us about your earnings on your request form, we don't give you any assumed credits for this period.