Also, if you can afford to invest your Social Security benefits between ages 62 and 70, chances are your income is high enough that you'll have to pay taxes on up to 85 percent of them. Eventually you can deduct the repayment of benefits on your tax return, or claim a credit for taxes previously paid. But aside from this "hassle" factor, there's always the risk that tax and Social Security rules may change before you turn 70.
"If too many people trade up for higher benefits, Congress might change the law," said Robert Carlson, an investment adviser in Fairfax County, Virginia, and editor of the newsletter "Retirement Watch." About 100,000 people a year suspend benefits, return the money and reapply for higher benefits. If many more start doing it, raising the cost to the government, the rules may change, Carlson said.
His advice, which I find logical, is that people who had already started to receive benefits early should consider whether the strategy makes sense for them as they approach age 70. But deliberately beginning benefits early with the intention of suspending and reapplying later is more risky.