Amid the partisan feuds and panic of a looming fiscal deadline, Congress passed a budget deal in late 2015, but lawmakers also “snuck in” a few changes to Social Security applications that National Institute of Transition Planning Benefits Director Tammy Flanagan said should not be ignored.

“Some of the strategies that people use when they file for Social Security are not going to change, but some will,” she told Federal Drive with Tom Temin. “It’s no longer where you can kind of turn one benefit on and delay the other one to a later date. You’re going to turn on all of your benefits and you’re going to receive the highest of what you’re entitled to.”

Notably the changes will impact filing a restricted application and the “file and suspend” strategy.

“Those are the two strategies that are going away,” Flanagan said. “The first group are the people who are going to turn 66 on or before May 1 of 2016. If you’re going to turn 66 before May 1 of this year, you can still file and suspend. You can still do that so that your spouse can file on your work record. Also people who turn 62 before 2016, so if you’re already 62, you can still file a restricted application when you reach your full retirement age, even if it’s four years from now. So there are some people who will still be able to take advantage, they’re kind of being grandfathered in to this new provision. If you’re only in your 50s, or haven’t turned 62 by 2016 or the full benefit age for the other group by May 1, then … those strategies won’t be available to you.”

Filing a restricted application happens when someone reaches their full retirement age (right now it’s about 66-years-old) they can choose to file on their own Social Security record or they can file a claim on their spouse’s record.

“When I file a restricted application, I’m saying I’m restricting my application to my spouse’s work record, and that’s so that I can leave my own benefits to grow until I’m 70, which could result in an increase of over 24 to 32 percent,” Flanagan said.

The “file and suspend”  strategy is one in which a person files for Social Security benefits but does not want to receive them quite yet.

“The only reason I’m going to file is so my spouse can file on my work record,” Flanagan said. “I’m going to file and delay my application so my spouse can file on my work record. I’m suspending my benefits.”

Why Congress made these changes, Flanagan couldn’t say for sure, but she said there is a rationale that only wealthy people were taking advantage of these strategies because they had the money to delay their Social Security entitlements to when they turned 70-years-old and were trying to “game the system.”

“I think there’s a different way to look at that, because I think some people who maybe just couldn’t afford to fully retire at 66, maybe they didn’t save enough, maybe they didn’t have a pension, are using these strategies to just make their retirement more comfortable so they can afford to pay for their health care expenses and other living expenses,” Flanagan said. “I don’t know if I fully agree with the reasons why they took these strategies away. But I do know there is a group of people who use them because they are trying to take full advantage.”

Despite the changes, Flanagan said there are still alternatives to get the most from your Social Security benefits.

Employees still have the same 8-year window [between the age of 62 and 70] to claim their own Social Security benefits, and when they hit full retirement age, they can still claim half of their spouse’s benefits.

“So if your spouse’s benefit is going to be higher than the one you’ve earned for yourself, you’ll still get the spousal amount,” Flanagan said, adding that if a spouse were to die, a person could still claim a widow or widower’s benefit and still delay their own benefit.

What’s important is for employees to ask themselves three questions: Are you still working, do you need the money and how long do you think you’re going to live?

“If you’re still working, you probably don’t need to claim Social Security benefits, and also there’s an earnings limit if you’re under that full retirement age,” Flanagan said. “If you’re not working and you’re going to delay Social Security, what else are you going to use to make up for that income that you’re not going to receive?”

Perhaps the hardest question is how long do you think you are going to live.

“For that we don’t know the answer, but we can look at our family history, we can look at our current health and kind of make a guess to see if we think it’s worth betting against the clock,” Flanagan said. “There are some people who have not filed even at age 70. If you wait until you’re 75, they’re not going to go back to age 70 and pay you everything that you could have been receiving. I don’t really see any reason for anyone to delay filing past age 70. You’ve payed into Social Security all of your working career …  so it’s a benefit that you’ve earned.”

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