Can you work and still collect an SSI check?

Under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) rules, individuals can work and continue to receive monthly SSI benefits. The Social Security Administration’s “work incentive” rules actually encourage blind, and disabled SSI recipients to work by minimizing the risk of losing SSI and Medicaid proceeds.

As of 2014, the SSA does not count the first $65 of earned income, plus 50 percent of earnings over $65, reducing SSI benefits by $1 for every $2 earned over $65. When calculating the countable income for students under the age of 22, the SSA may exclude a maximum of $1,750 of gross earnings per month; the maximum annual exclusion for such individuals during the 2014 calendar year was $7,060, according to the SSA.