Royalty income Social Security caps

I receive mineral royalties & I am part surface owner. I am not employed so have no “earned” income. I have applied for early social security to start at age 62. Can anyone tell me if the mineral royalties count against the income cap?

If the royalties are taxable then they count against the cap.

Royalties do NOT count against the SS income limit (which is based on earned income such as wages or self-employment) when you take early benefits, so you can receive any amount of royalties and your SS benefits will never be reduced. However, your SS benefits may be taxable (up to 85% of the SS amount) based on the income you have for the year. Two different concepts that get confused often.

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Yes, I agree. However it’s what you keep that matters and the higher her royalties over a certain amount the less SS dollars she gets to keep. Is that accurate?

No,it’s not earned income

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