Social security projected benefit cuts 2032: Millions of Americans may miss out 22 per cent of total retirement income. Check SSA-CoLA calculations

Americans could lose out 22 per cent of social security checks in next six years. This comes as fears are growing over possible social security projected benefit cuts by 2032. This comes even as the Social Security Administration announced the annual cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) to benefits.

Earlier in June, the government said that the US Social Security trust fund that offers benefits to ​millions of American retirees will run out of money in late 2032. This was partly due to President Donald Trump’s signature tax law enacted last year. The report found that the tax ​cuts enacted ​by Trump and the ⁠Republican Congress last year resulted in less income tax paid on Social Security benefits, depleting key income streams to the two funds, Reuters reported.

As per a Social Security Administration ‌annual report ⁠projections, the ⁠Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund that finances retirement benefits will become depleted ​and no longer be able to pay 100 per cent of scheduled benefits in the ​fourth quarter of 2032, up from the first quarter of 2033 projected in the 2025 annual report.

At that time the ​fund’s projected income will be sufficient to ⁠pay just 78 per cent ‌of scheduled benefits, indicating beneficiaries will see a ​22 per cent ​cut in monthly Social Security retirement income. Reserves for ⁠the related Disability Insurance trust fund – for those receiving ​long-term disability payments – should remain positive for the ​next 75 years, unchanged from last year’s findings.

The two funds combined, however, will reach insolvency in the third quarter of 2034, also unchanged from a year ago. At that time the combined fund will have income sufficient to pay just 83 per cent ‌of scheduled benefits, a percentage that declines to 65 per cent by 2100.

Social Security CoLA Benefits
Earlier in October, it was announced that around 76 million Americans receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits will see their monthly payments rise 3.6 per cent in 2027, accelerating from the prior year’s increase for a second straight year. For 2026, the increase was 2.8 per cent.The increase takes effect in January for 72 million Social Security recipients and on December 31, 2026, for nearly 7.3 million SSI beneficiaries. Some recipients receive both Social Security and SSI benefits.

Meanwhile in October, the US Social Security Administration said that it had corrected records for nearly 15 per cent of all active Social Security numbers, adding missing death and citizenship information, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to prevent fraud in the benefits program.

In what the agency said was the most comprehensive cleanup in its 91-year history, the SSA added 17 million dates of death to records that previously lacked this information. It also updated about 25 million records that previously had missing citizenship information using data received from the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) service, the SSA said in a statement

Combined, those changes mean that nearly 15 per cent of all active SSNs covering about 330 million US citizens and nearly 390 million total records have been corrected, the SSA said, adding that it was working to correct another 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship status.