Q: Hello I am on SSDI and I was wondering if sweepstake prizes redemptions need to be reported to SSA? I'm under the......
......impression that they don't as it's unearned income. I'm just wondering if my assumption is correct just in case?
A:
So there are two Social Security sources of disability income. Need based disability and prior income based disability. If your income is need based disability, (meaning you didn't have enough past work to qualify for income based disability) then any money is part of the calculation whether you qualify for need based income. If you win $3,000 and put it in the bank, you will be temporarily disqualified from need based SSDI until you spend down the money below the max allowed.
If you have prior income based disability, then you are probably fine. SSA determines this by whether you can work or not. Winning sweepstakes does not count as work. Some people have plenty of money in the bank, but their current inability to work qualifies them to receive SSDI monthly payments.
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