Do Georgia teachers pay Social Security? TRS and the 2026 earnings limit

1. Do Georgia teachers pay into Social Security?

In Georgia, whether a public school teacher pays into Social Security depends on the school district. The U.S. Department of Education lists Georgia as a state where coverage varies by district.

The department’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sorts the states into three groups: states whose teachers have Social Security coverage, states whose teachers do not, and a small number of states where some districts have coverage and others do not. Georgia is one of five states NCES places in that last, mixed group. NCES also notes that a teacher’s eligibility for coverage depends on the state and the school district where the teacher works. Its data table was compiled in 2019 and 2020, and NCES based Georgia’s entry on correspondence with the State Social Security Administrator. Read it as the general picture for the state, not a statement about any one district or position today.

Why it varies: the Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia (ERS) says, “Section 218 of the Social Security Act allows the state of Georgia to enter into voluntary agreements with the various political subdivisions of the state (including state and county governments and school systems) to provide Social Security coverage for those employees who are covered by a retirement system.” It adds: “The Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia is the designated State Social Security Administrator.” An ERS Social Security fact sheet, titled for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System, says: “Both the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and Teacher Retirement System (TRS) meet the definition of a public retirement system and can be used as a substitute for mandatory Social Security.”

As we read these sources, a teaching job in a Georgia public school carries Social Security coverage where the employer elected it under the state’s Section 218 agreement, and the TRS pension stands in place of Social Security where the employer did not. The same fact sheet says coverage also turns on the job itself (section 2).

2. How to check your own position

Because coverage is set by agreement with each employer, the answer for you is in your own records, not in a statewide rule. ERS’s fact sheet says: “Section 218 coverage is based on position as well as retirement system coverage.”

• Your pay records. As we read it, a pay stub or Form W-2 from a school job shows whether Social Security tax was taken out of that pay.
• Your Social Security record. SSA can tell you what your own earnings record shows. ERS says, “ERS cannot answer questions concerning Social Security benefits for individuals”, and TRS says, “TRS does not determine eligibility for Social Security benefits.”
• A school system’s coverage. ERS’s fact sheet says, “For further SSA information, or information specific to an individual School System, please contact:” and lists its State Social Security Coordinator.
• Part-time and substitute work. NCES’s data table notes that it takes a teacher to mean a full-time, licensed public school educator, and that coverage for part-time and substitute teachers can differ.
• A divided vote. Federal law lets Georgia split a retirement system’s members by a referendum; IRS Publication 963 lists Georgia among the states with that authority and says: “Under the divided vote referendum, only those employees who vote ‘yes’ and all future employees who become members of the retirement system will be covered.” The sources we read do not say that any Georgia school system has used one. It is one more reason to check your own record.
• Medicare is separate. The same IRS publication says: “Medicare is mandatory for public employees hired or rehired after March 31, 1986, regardless of membership in a public retirement system.”

3. A TRS pension and Social Security

TRS’s Social Security page for retirees says: “Your TRS retirement benefit is not reduced, or affected in any way, by a benefit you are eligible to receive from the Social Security Administration (SSA).” TRS’s Member’s Guide adds: “TRS does not determine eligibility for Social Security benefits.” SSA can tell you what your own record shows.

Two federal provisions that reduced some Social Security benefits are gone: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). Public Law 118-273, the Social Security Fairness Act, was approved January 5, 2025. It is an Act “To amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the Government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions.” Its changes apply with respect to “monthly insurance benefits payable under title II of the Social Security Act for months after December 2023.”

TRS’s Member’s Guide and its retiree Social Security page have not caught up. The Member’s Guide (06/26) still says: “Receiving a pension from TRS may reduce your Social Security benefits.” It goes on to describe the GPO and the WEP. The retiree page still says that in some cases your Social Security benefit “could be reduced based on the pension you receive from TRS.” As we read the law, both passages are out of date: the Social Security Fairness Act repealed both provisions for benefits payable for months after December 2023.

The repeal, as we read it, matters to people whose pension came at least partly from work that Social Security did not cover, such as years in a school district that did not take out Social Security tax. Ask SSA how the change applies to your own benefit.

If you start Social Security before full retirement age and keep working, the earnings test in section 4 counts your wages. As we read SSA’s rules, it does not count your TRS pension (section 5).

4. The 2026 earnings test before full retirement age

If you start Social Security retirement benefits before full retirement age and also work, SSA may hold back some of your benefits. SSA’s notice of November 3, 2025 (90 FR 49047) sets these figures for 2026:

The earnings test applies only before full retirement age. If you get Social Security disability benefits, other rules apply: SSA says, “If a disabled beneficiary performs any work activity, we look at that activity to determine whether the disability has ceased.” Ask SSA before you take any job.

In SSA’s own words (NRA, normal retirement age, is the notice’s term for full retirement age):

• “The lower annual exempt amount is $24,480 under the retirement earnings test.” Above it: “For all other beneficiaries under NRA, we withhold $1 in benefits for every $2 of earnings over the annual exempt amount.”
• “The higher annual exempt amount is $65,160 under the retirement earnings test.” SSA explains: “A higher exempt amount applies in the year in which a person attains NRA, but only for earnings in months before such attainment.” For those months, “we withhold $1 in benefits for every $3 of earnings over the annual exempt amount for months before NRA.”
• At full retirement age the test stops. SSA’s operating manual says: “Effective 1/2000, the ET no longer applies to a beneficiary beginning in the month they attain FRA.” (ET is the earnings test; FRA is full retirement age; POMS RS 02501.021.)

Full retirement age is Social Security’s own age; SSA can tell you yours. TRS’s own retirement rules are a separate matter, covered in our TRS guide.

Your grace year: a monthly test

Your grace year can work differently. In it, SSA’s regulation looks at each month, and its main condition is a non-service month: a month in which you “Do not perform services for wages greater than the monthly exempt amount set for that month” (20 CFR 404.435). The regulation has other conditions too.

For 2026, SSA’s notice says: “The monthly exempt amounts under the OASDI retirement earnings test for tax years ending in calendar year 2026 will be $2,040” for people who reach full retirement age after 2026, and $5,430 “for those who attain NRA in 2026.”

Which year is your grace year? The regulation says: “A beneficiary’s initial grace year is the first taxable year in which the beneficiary has a non-service month”. After it, the yearly test applies again: “However, in the years that follow, up to the year of full retirement age, only the annual earnings test will be applied”. SSA can tell you whether a given year is your grace year, so treat the monthly test as something that may apply to you.

5. Which earnings count, and which do not

SSA counts both wages and net earnings from self-employment. Its regulation says earnings include “the sum of your wages for services rendered in a taxable year, plus your net earnings from self-employment for the taxable year, minus any net loss from self-employment for the same taxable year.” Wages count before deductions: “Wages include the gross amount of your wages rather than the net amount paid after deductions by your employer” (20 CFR 404.429).

As we read SSA’s rules, wages from every job count together, including part-time tutoring pay. Pay from SpecialEdResource is W-2 pay, and SpecialEdResource withholds your share of Social Security and Medicare from it.

Your TRS pension does not count. SSA’s manual says: “Do not count bona fide pension payments.” (POMS RS 02505.240, item 57). As we read SSA’s rules, that covers a TRS service retirement benefit.

SSA’s manual also has a line for teachers: “Count teachers pay in period for which paid if received in a nonwork month.” (POMS RS 02505.240, item 78). Ask SSA how this applies to your last school paychecks.

TRS’s own rules are a separate question

Social Security’s earnings test is not a TRS rule, and TRS’s rules for working after retirement are not SSA’s. Our guide to working after retirement under TRS covers them in full. One point matters before any job. Start any paid work, tutoring included, the month after your retirement takes effect, or ask TRS first: TRS’s web page says paid service “for any employer” during the calendar month of the effective date of retirement voids the retirement application, while its 06/26 Member’s Guide says “for any TRS-covered employer”. TRS’s example: “If your retirement date is July 1st, you can begin working no earlier than August 1st.” Confirm your own situation with TRS (800-352-0650 or 404-352-6500) before you start.

6. What the limit means in tutoring hours

The figures below divide SSA’s 2026 annual limit of $24,480, the limit before full retirement age, by an hourly pay rate, for readers who get Social Security retirement benefits and are under full retirement age for all of 2026. They do not predict the hours you would be offered, and they are not a benefit calculation. Available hours depend on student demand and schedule fit.

SpecialEdResource’s starting pay is $23/hour, W-2. All tutors can earn a 10% performance bonus in any pay period when they tutor at least 10 hours and turn in session notes on time. In a pay period that earns the bonus, the rate works out to $25.30 an hour.

The right-hand column applies only if every pay period earns the bonus. In a pay period that does not, every hour is paid at $23, so the real figure falls between the two columns. This section converts only that limit into hours. The $2,040 amount for a grace-year month (section 4) and the $65,160 amount for the year you reach full retirement age (section 4) are given in dollars only.

SSA counts wages from every job and net earnings from self-employment, so other work leaves less room under the limit. Nothing here means a particular schedule keeps you under it: SSA applies the test to your actual earnings before full retirement age. For your own figures, ask SSA.

7. When the 2027 figures come out

The amounts on this page are SSA’s figures for 2026, for “tax years ending in calendar year 2026”. SSA sets each new year’s amounts in its yearly “Cost-of-Living Increase and Other Determinations” notice in the Federal Register; the notice for 2026 came out on November 3, 2025. In a year when SSA gives a cost-of-living increase, federal law says SSA’s Commissioner “shall also determine and publish in the Federal Register on or before November 1 of the calendar year” the new exempt amounts (42 U.S.C. 403(f)(8)(A)).

When we checked the Federal Register on October 15, 2026, SSA had not yet published its notice for 2027. This guide does not list 2027 amounts. For 2027, use SSA’s notice once it is published, or ask SSA.

8. Georgia income tax on Social Security and retirement income

This section is about your Georgia income tax return, in the words of the Georgia Department of Revenue. Its Retirees FAQ asks, “Does Georgia tax Social Security?” and answers: “No. Taxable Social Security and Railroad Retirement on the Federal return are exempt from Georgia Income Tax.”

The department’s instructions for 2025 returns (Form IT-511, the newest posted when we checked) also allow a retirement income exclusion. They say: “The maximum retirement income exclusion is $35,000 for taxpayers who are:” 62 to 64 years of age, and “The maximum retirement income exclusion is $65,000 for taxpayers who are 65 years of age or older.” They add: “If both spouses qualify, each spouse may claim the amounts above.” and “Up to $5,000 of the maximum allowable exclusion may be earned income.” The department’s undated Retirees FAQ gives a lower earned-income amount, and itself says: “Refer to the instruction booklet for the amount of the exclusion and for additional information.” This guide uses the 2025 instructions.

As we read the instructions, a TRS service retirement benefit is retirement income, while wages, such as pay from a part-time job, count toward the exclusion only up to that earned-income amount. For later years, the Governor’s office says of HB 463 (2026): “It raises the retirement income exclusion to $70,000 beginning in 2027”. As we read HB 463, that is the amount for people 65 and older, and the amount for ages 62 to 64 stays at $35,000. Ask the Department of Revenue about your own return.