Q: I am about to turn 62 and will be signing up for Social Security. I just heard I'm going to get an increase in my Social Security benefits because I served in the military. This is really good news. Can you explain that?

A: I hope you're not making plans to spend all that extra money! IF (and you'll note that's a big IF) you do get an increase for your military service, it might be enough to buy you a cup of coffee - assuming you get it at 7-Eleven and not Starbucks.

It has been my experience that the relatively small "military bonus" added to the earnings record of certain veterans is so insignificant that it has little or no impact on the final Social Security benefit computation for most vets.

The rules are pretty complicated, but I will summarize them here.

Military personnel have been paying into Social Security (i.e., having Social Security taxes deducted from their basic pay) since 1956.

If you served in the military before then, you did not pay into Social Security. But the government adds $160 to your Social Security earnings record for any month you were in the service between 1940 and 1956. You get these extra earnings credits IF you were honorably discharged and IF no other government agency is using that time in the military to pay you another federal benefit.

If you served in the military from 1957 through 1977, the government adds an extra $300 to your Social Security earnings record for each calendar quarter you served. This is on top of your basic pay earnings, which are already on your Social Security record because you paid taxes on those earnings.

If you served in the military from 1978 through 2001, the government adds an extra $100 to your Social Security earnings record for each $300 in basic pay you had, not to exceed $1,200 per year.

If you served in the military after 2001, no extra earnings credits are added to your Social Security record.

Because Social Security retirement benefits are based on all of a person's earnings averaged over a 35-year time span, those extra military earnings ($160 here and $100 there) usually get swallowed up in your lifetime earnings history. There is a chance they might increase your lifetime average monthly earnings, and thus your Social Security retirement benefit. But as I said, it might be enough extra money to buy you that cup of coffee.

The Social Security Administration produces a fact sheet that explains these rules in more detail. It's called "Military Service and Social Security." You can find it online on SSA's Web site, www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10017.html.

Q: In a recent column, you talked about the advantages to filing for Social Security online. But then you also said that a birth certificate is required to complete an application for benefits. How do you provide the Social Security Administration with a birth certificate online?

A: You don't provide it "online." One way or another, you have to get a paper copy of your birth certificate (and any other documents necessary to complete your claim for benefits) to the Social Security Administration.

My wife recently filed for her Social Security benefits using the Internet. Once she completed the online application, she was given a couple of options for turning in her birth certificate: She was given an address where the document could be mailed, and she was told she could take it to her nearest Social Security office. She chose the latter. And she was in and out of the office in a couple of minutes - just the time it took them to make a photocopy of her birth certificate and return the original to her.

Questions may be sent c/o Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190. Or send e-mail to yoursocialsecurity@comcast.net.

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