Return to Videos You can find out if you're entitled to past-due benefits from the time you're determined to be disabled. Everything before that determination is speculation. So, in determining whether or not you're entitled to any past-due benefits in the amount, first thing you have to do is determine when the last time was it you worked. Because if you're working, generally you're just not entitled to the benefits. You have to remember that Social Security Administration is concerned with people who cannot work. What I tell my clients, what I ask is “When did you stop working?” “When did your medical condition affect you to the point where you couldn't work anymore doing what you were doing or even the simplest job that you can imagine?”