File and Suspend

File and suspend was a Social Security claiming strategy, available to couples before a 2015 change in the law, in which a worker who had reached full retirement age would file for their retirement benefit and then immediately suspend it. Filing was what allowed a spouse to begin collecting a spousal benefit; suspending meant the worker collected nothing themselves and kept earning delayed retirement credits, so their own future benefit continued to grow. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 eliminated this combination for suspension requests effective on or after April 30, 2016. The strategy is described here in the past tense because it is no longer available.

The strategy worked because of a gap between two rules. A spousal benefit was generally payable only once the primary worker had filed for their own benefit. By filing and then suspending, the worker satisfied that condition without actually drawing a check, so the household received the spousal benefit immediately while the worker's own benefit accrued delayed retirement credits until age 70. It was most valuable to couples with one much higher earner.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 closed the gap directly. Under the current rule, a voluntary suspension suspends not only the worker's own benefit but also any benefit payable to anyone else on the worker's record, with a single exception for a divorced spouse. That change removed the entire point of filing and suspending, because the spouse can no longer collect while the worker's benefit grows. A separate change reinforced it: deemed filing, which requires that claiming one benefit be treated as claiming all benefits a person is entitled to, now applies to anyone born on or after January 2, 1954. Deemed filing also closed the related "restricted application" tactic, in which a person claimed only a spousal benefit while letting their own retirement benefit grow, for that cohort. It did not close it everywhere. The deemed-filing statute reaches only old-age and spousal benefits, so it does not touch survivor benefits: a widow or widower can still claim a survivor benefit alone and let their own retirement benefit grow to 70, or claim their own first and switch to the survivor benefit later. Two narrower exceptions also survive, one for a spouse caring for the worker's young or disabled child and one while the claimant is entitled to disability benefits.

What remains lawful is a plain voluntary suspension. A worker who has reached full retirement age but already started benefits can suspend them to earn delayed retirement credits up to age 70, then restart at the higher amount. That is a solo move to boost the worker's own benefit; it is not the coordinated couples' strategy, and while benefits are suspended, no one else can collect on the record either.

The strategy, as it operated before April 30, 2016, ran in two immediate steps at full retirement age.

A hypothetical couple from that era: Robert, at his full retirement age of 66, filed for his retirement benefit and in the same request suspended it. His wife Carol, also at her full retirement age, then began a spousal benefit worth up to half of Robert's primary insurance amount. Robert collected nothing himself, so his own benefit grew by delayed retirement credits of two-thirds of one percent a month until he restarted it at 70, roughly 32% higher than his full retirement age amount. Under the rules in force today, the same sequence fails: the moment Robert suspends, Carol's spousal benefit is suspended too, so the household gains nothing by the maneuver.

Why it mattered while it lasted

• It let a couple collect a spousal benefit and grow the higher earner's own benefit at the same time, which could add up over a long retirement.

Why it is gone, and what to know now

• It no longer works: since April 30, 2016, suspending your benefit suspends any benefit others receive on your record, except a divorced spouse.
• Deemed filing, applying to anyone born on or after January 2, 1954, also closed the related restricted-application tactic for retirement and spousal benefits. It does not reach survivor benefits, where restricting an application to one benefit and switching later still works.
• The remaining voluntary suspension only raises your own benefit and pays no one else while it is in effect, so it is a different tool with a narrower use.