§404.115. Table for determining the quarters of coverage you need to be fully insured. — Inbound Citations

(a) This subpart explains what we mean when we say that a person has insured status under the social security program. It also describes how a person may become fully insured, currently insured or insured for disability benefits. Your insured status is a basic factor in determining if you are entitled to old-age or disability insurance benefits or to a period of disability. It is also a basic factor in determining if dependents' or survivors' insurance benefits or a lump-sum death payment are payable based on your earnings record. If you are neither fully nor currently insured, no benefits are payable based on your earnings. (Subpart D of this part describes these benefits and the kind of insured status required for each.) In §§ 404.110 through 404.120 we tell how we determine if you are fully or currently insured. The rules for determining if you are insured for purposes of establishing a period of disability or becoming entitled to disability insurance benefits are in §§ 404.130 through 404.133. Whether you have the required insured status depends on the number of quarters of coverage (QCs) you have acquired.

(a) We describe how we determine the number of quarters of coverage (QCs) you need to be fully insured in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section. The table in § 404.115 may be used to determine the number of QCs you need to be fully insured under paragraph (b) of this section. We consider certain World War II veterans to have died fully insured (see § 404.111). We also consider certain employees of private nonprofit organizations to be fully insured if they meet special requirements (see § 404.112).

(b) You have enough social security earnings to be fully insured as defined in §§ 404.110 through 404.115; and