The Social Security Administration (SSA) is responsible for administering benefits to nearly 75 million Americans, making it one of the largest and most complex federal programs in America. With that scale, mistakes can obviously happen, and in 2026 those errors can directly reduce your retirement income, survivor benefits or disability payments if they go unnoticed.
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In fact, if you are not reviewing your “my Social Security” account at least once a year, you could be leaving thousands of dollars in lifetime benefits on the table. And the kicker? This applies even if retirement is decades away.
The SSA wants you to double-check its work through your personalized and free online portal. Your account includes valuable information about your anticipated retirement benefit amount, lifetime taxable wages, Medicare eligibility and more. Any system error could mean a difference in your benefit claims — and millions of mistakes are made annually.
Through your “my Social Security” portal, you can request document replacements and access valuable financial planning information. Simply put, your my Social Security account allows you to:
Track your lifetime earnings record
View estimated retirement benefits by claiming age
Confirm disability benefit eligibility
Verify survivor benefit projections for your family
Check Medicare eligibility and enrollment timing
Access COLA notices and tax documents online
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To create your own “my Social Security” account, follow this step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Go to SSA.gov and click “Sign In / Create an Account” and verify your identity.
Step 2: Review your earnings record to check each year against tax returns or W-2s.
Step 3: Review estimated benefits to compare claiming at 62, full retirement age, and 70.
Step 4: Save or screenshot key pages. This helps if records need to be disputed later.
If you think your paperwork is tedious, each year the SSA processes more than 250 million W-2 wage reports, representing more than $5 trillion in earnings. The good news is that it also reports an overall accuracy rate of approximately 99%. The bad news is that this still translates to millions of wage record errors annually.
Even one missing or incorrect year can lower your monthly retirement benefit, reduce disability or survivor benefits, or even permanently impact cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) income for life. To make sure your information is as accurate as possible, this is how Social Security calculates your benefits:
Indexing your lifetime earnings for inflation
Selecting your 35 highest-earning years
Applying a progressive benefit formula
Unfortunately, errors are more costly and harder to unwind than ever before. Several 2026 changes make accuracy more important. Here are some items to review:
2026 COLA: 2.8%, raising the average retired worker benefit to about $2,071 per month
Higher taxable wage cap: increases the value of high-accuracy earnings records
Aggressive overpayment recovery policies: SSA is withholding up to 50% or more of benefits when discrepancies are found late
To calculate your entitled Social Security benefit amount, the SSA looks at your lifetime career earnings and then indexes each year’s total for inflation. It then takes your 35 highest-earning years and uses a formula to determine your benefit.
The bottom line is that if you find a mistake, you should act immediately, as the SSA requests that you contact them as soon as possible if discrepancies are found.
If you discover an error during your deep dive, the SSA requests that you call 800-772-1213 immediately. American expats are instructed to contact their nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate or write to:
Social Security Administration
Office of Earnings & International Operations
P.O. Box 17769
Baltimore, MD 21235-7769, USA
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The No. 1 Social Security Move To Make in 2026 To Ensure Benefits Are Accurate
