SSDI Trial Work Period in 2015: What the Rules Were and How They Applied

If you're researching your work history on SSDI — whether you were working during 2015 or are reviewing past activity that could affect your current benefits — understanding what the Trial Work Period (TWP) rules looked like that year is a practical starting point.

What the Trial Work Period Is

The Trial Work Period is one of SSDI's core work incentives. It allows people receiving disability benefits to test their ability to work without immediately losing those benefits. SSA doesn't penalize you for trying to return to work — but the TWP has specific rules about how many months you can work, how much you can earn, and what happens afterward.

The TWP lasts for 9 months within a rolling 60-month (5-year) window. Those 9 months don't have to be consecutive. Once you've used all 9 TWP months, SSA evaluates whether your earnings have crossed the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) threshold.

The 2015 Trial Work Period Threshold 📋

Each year, SSA adjusts the monthly earnings amount that "triggers" a TWP month. In 2015, that threshold was:

A month only counted as a TWP service month in 2015 if your gross earnings exceeded $780 that month. Months where you earned $780 or less did not count against your 9-month allotment — even if you were technically working.

This is an important distinction. Many people assume any month they work counts as a TWP month. That's not accurate. SSA looks at whether your earnings crossed the threshold, not simply whether you showed up to a job.

The 2015 SGA Threshold — A Separate but Related Number

The TWP threshold and the SGA threshold are two different figures that serve different purposes.

• The TWP threshold ($780 in 2015) determines whether a given month counts as one of your 9 trial work months.
• The SGA threshold determines whether your work is substantial enough to trigger a cessation of benefits after the TWP ends.

In 2015, the SGA amount was $1,090 per month for non-blind beneficiaries and $1,820 per month for blind beneficiaries. These figures also adjust annually.

During the TWP itself, you can earn above the SGA threshold without losing benefits — that's the point of the trial period. SSA doesn't apply the SGA test until after your TWP months are used up.

What Happens After the 9 Months Are Used

Once your 9 TWP months are exhausted, you enter the Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE), which lasts 36 months. During the EPE, SSA applies the SGA test each month. If your earnings fall below SGA, you receive your benefit. If they exceed SGA, benefits stop — but can be reinstated quickly if earnings drop again, without filing a new application.

This structure means the TWP functions as a protected testing window, while the EPE provides a longer safety net.

Self-Employment and the TWP in 2015

For self-employed beneficiaries, SSA didn't use gross earnings alone. The TWP determination for self-employment in 2015 involved either:

• Earning more than $780 net in a month, or
• Working more than 80 hours in a month in your business

Whichever applied first triggered a TWP service month. This matters because self-employed individuals can have irregular income patterns that don't map neatly onto wage-based rules.

How Past Work in 2015 Can Still Matter Today 🔍

If you were on SSDI in 2015 and worked during that year, those months may have counted toward your 9-month TWP — and that history follows you. SSA tracks TWP usage within the rolling 60-month window, and months that counted in 2015 could have affected your benefit status in subsequent years.

For example, if someone used multiple TWP months in 2015 and continued working into 2016 and 2017, they may have exhausted their 9 months and entered the EPE without fully realizing it. This is a common source of overpayment notices, where SSA later determines benefits continued beyond the point they should have stopped.

Understanding the 2015 threshold is also relevant if you're reviewing your SSA record, disputing an overpayment, or trying to reconstruct your work history for an appeal.

Factors That Shape How the TWP Applied to Any Individual

While the 2015 TWP threshold of $780 was universal, how it applied to any given person depended on several variables:

• When your SSDI benefits began — TWP months can only accumulate after your benefit start date
• Whether you had prior TWP months within the 60-month window before 2015
• Your type of work — W-2 employment, self-employment, and part-time gig work are each evaluated differently
• Whether SSA was tracking your work activity — not all work is reported in real time, which can create retroactive complications
• Any concurrent SSI eligibility — SSI has its own separate earned income rules that interact differently with work activity

The mechanics of the TWP are consistent across beneficiaries. But where any individual stood within that framework in 2015 — how many months they had used, how much they earned, what came next — is entirely specific to their own work record and benefit history.