Social Security Law: SS Beneficiaries to Get COLA Raises in 2012

October 19, 2011

Baltimore, Maryland - More than 60 million beneficiaries of the monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will receive an increase of about 3.6 percent in 2012, the Social Security Administration has announced in a statement released in its website recently.

The statement said the 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits and will be received by nearly 55 million Social Security beneficiaries in January next year while the increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30 this year.

In addition to this, SSA said other changes that take effect on January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings that are subject to the social security tax will increase from $106,800 to $110, 100.

SSA said that about 10 million people – out of the estimated 161 million workers who will pay SS taxes in 2012 - will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in taxable maximum.