Spousal Social Security benefits work as follows
- Spouses who aren't eligible for Social Security on their own work record can apply for benefits based on the other spouse's record.
- The maximum spousal benefit is equal to 50% of the other spouse's benefit.
- People can apply for spousal benefits as early as age 62, but they'll get more money if they wait until their full retirement age.
- If both spouses are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, both are also eligible to receive the spouse benefit based on the other’s work record.
- If you are eligible for both your own retirement benefit and a spousal benefit, Social Security will pay you the higher of the two amounts.
for your spouse to get "compensated" she would actually need to perform work for your business and her compensation would need to be reasonable for the type of work performed. how her compensation would be reported depends on the type of entity. Every dollar she gets would cost 15% or more in payroll taxes, again depending on the type of entity.
