Ticket to Work, IRWE and Other SSA Work Supports

How does Ticket to Work help disability beneficiaries?

Ticket to Work connects people ages 18 through 64 who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) with free employment services, and it can hold off medical reviews while you make progress. SSA's Ticket to Work program page says participation is free and voluntary.

You choose who serves you. Services come from an approved Employment Network (EN) or from your State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency, and they include career counseling, vocational rehabilitation, job placement and training. Some Employment Networks connect participants to services through American Job Centers.

The review protection is narrower than people expect. If you assign your ticket to an approved provider before you receive a notice of a continuing disability review and you keep up with your employment plan, SSA says it will not conduct a review of your medical condition. Keeping up means making timely progress, which is completing the steps in your plan within the timeframes SSA sets. If the notice arrives before you assign the ticket, the scheduled review goes ahead.

Ticket to Work does not change how SSA counts your earnings. The trial work period, the extended period of eligibility and the SSI income rules all still apply, which is why the supports below matter. Questions about the program itself go to the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 (voice) or 1-866-833-2967 (TTY).

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Impairment-related work expenses that lower countable disability earnings

Impairment-related work expenses (IRWE) are out-of-pocket costs for items and services you need in order to work because of your impairment, and SSA subtracts them from the earnings it counts. The Red Book's SSDI and SSI work incentives page lists four conditions, and all four must be met:

• The item or service enables you to work.
• You need it because of your impairment.
• You pay for it yourself, without reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance or an Employment Network.
• The cost is reasonable, meaning the standard charge for that item or service in your community.

Under 20 CFR 404.1576, deductible costs can include attendant care, medical devices such as wheelchairs, canes or pacemakers, prosthetics, special work equipment, prescribed drugs and medical services that control your impairment, and vehicle modifications. For a vehicle, SSA deducts the cost of the modifications, not the cost of the vehicle. You generally must pay in a month you are working, and payment in kind does not count. A one-time payment can be deducted in the month you pay it or spread over 12 consecutive months, whichever you choose.

The arithmetic is plain. For 2026, substantial gainful activity (SGA), the monthly earnings line SSA uses for disability, is $1,690 for most people, per SSA's 2026 cost-of-living fact sheet. If you earn $1,800 in a month and pay $200 out of pocket for prescribed medication that controls your condition, SSA compares $1,600, not $1,800, to that line. For SSI, the same expense is excluded from earned income when SSA figures your payment. People who receive SSI because of blindness use blind work expenses instead, which the Red Book says SSA treats more favorably than IRWE.

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How subsidies and special conditions affect disability benefits

When an employer or a job coach props up your work, SSA counts what your work is worth, not what your paycheck says. The Red Book puts it directly: SSA uses only earnings that represent the real value of the work you perform.

A subsidy is support from your employer that may result in you receiving more pay than the actual value of the work. Examples in the Red Book include extra help or supervision, fewer or easier duties, and a special relationship with the employer. A special condition is support and on-the-job assistance from your employer or from someone else, such as a vocational rehabilitation agency. Under 20 CFR 404.1574, SSA can subtract the value of a subsidy from your gross earnings before comparing them to SGA.

Self-employment has a parallel rule. Unincurred business expenses are contributions others make to your business, such as donated equipment or unpaid help, and SSA deducts them from net earnings when deciding SGA.

SSI handles both differently. SSA does not consider subsidies or special conditions when it figures your SSI payment amount, though they do count in deciding initial SSI eligibility. Unincurred business expenses are not deducted when SSA figures an SSI payment. Tell SSA about any support when you report the job, and keep a written description of it with your pay records.

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How a PASS plan helps SSI recipients reach a work goal

A Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) lets an SSI recipient set aside income other than SSI, along with resources, for a specific work goal, and SSA does not count the money set aside when it decides eligibility or the payment amount. The Red Book describes it as a way to set aside other income besides your SSI, and SSA's SSI work guidance adds that you cannot use the SSI payment itself for the work-goal expenses.

Think of a PASS as a savings account with SSA's signature on it. Under 20 CFR 416.1181, the plan must:

• Be written, tailored to you and approved by SSA, with any change also approved
• Name one specific employment goal that is feasible for you
• Aim for earnings that substantially reduce or end your need for SSI or SSDI
• Set a beginning date, an ending date and target dates for milestones
• List the expenses and show that they are reasonable and necessary
• Show how the set-aside money stays separate from your other funds
• Include a business plan if the goal is self-employment

SSA reviews your progress at least once a year and can adjust or extend the ending date based on your progress and earnings. Our SSI claims page covers the income and resource rules a PASS works around.

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Which work supports apply to SSDI and which apply to SSI

Most supports work in both programs, but they do different jobs in each. In SSDI they change whether your work counts as SGA. In SSI they change your countable income, and so your payment.

The supports also stack. A person on SSDI can use a ticket for job placement, deduct IRWE and have a job coach's help taken out of the earnings count, all in the same month. Our guide to working on disability explains how SSDI and SSI count wages, and our post on substantial gainful activity covers the earnings line these supports adjust.

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