Here’s the date when Social Security would only be able to pay 78% of benefits

Social Security beneficiaries are facing a looming deadline that could result in significant cuts to their monthly payments.

The latest projections from the Social Security Board of Trustees show the reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund are set to run out in the fourth quarter of 2032. After that point, Social Security would only be able to pay 78% of promised benefits.

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The cuts would average about $500 a month.

“The Trustees recommend that lawmakers address the projected trust-fund shortfalls in a timely way to phase in necessary changes gradually and give workers and beneficiaries time to adjust.

“The annual cost of the program is projected to exceed annual income in 2026 and remain higher throughout the 75-year projection period. Total cost began to be higher than total income in 2021. Social Security’s cost has exceeded its non-interest income since 2010,” trustees said in their report.

“Implementing changes sooner rather than later would allow more generations to share in the needed revenue increases or reductions in scheduled benefits,” they added.

Social Security provides benefits to more than 70 million retired workers and people with disabilities. The bulk of the money for Social Security is funded through dedicated payroll taxes and taxes on benefits. Any shortfall, however, is covered by the trust funds.

For the past 16 years, Social Security payments have exceeded its cash income, forcing it to dip into fund reserves to pay benefits. By law, it can’t pay out more in benefits than it receives in revenue, so once the trust fund is gone, cuts will follow.

There are multiple reasons for the shortfall, including tax cuts from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and, most notably, an aging U.S. population with a growing number of Americans collecting benefits rather than contributing through payroll taxes.

Advocates have called on Congress to act soon to address the shortfall.

“With informed discussion, creative thinking and timely legislative action, Social Security will continue to protect future generations,” Trustees said.