2023 Social Security Cheat Sheet - Flipbook - Page 17
2019 REVISED EDITION:
Social Security Cheat Sheet
Benefit Reductions For Government Pensions
Government Pension Offset (GPO)
The Government Pension Offset can affect some or all of your spousal and
survivor benefits entitlement if you are collecting a government pension
based on earnings that were not subject to Social Security taxes. This offset
will reduce the amount of your benefit by 2/3 the amount of your pension. For
example, if you are a civil service employee and have a $600/mo. pension, the
reduction of spousal benefit will be $400/mo. There are exemptions for some
civil service or federal employees who paid Social Security taxes on pension
eligible wages.
To access the SSA.gov GPO Calculator, visit:
www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/gpo-calc.html
Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
The Windfall Elimination Provision can affect how much Social Security
retirement and/or disability benefit you receive based on the number of years
of “substantial earnings” you have on your individual record and whether or
not you had earnings that were not subject to Social Security taxes. The
amount of the reduction could be up to 50% of the first “Bend Point” based
on the number of years you paid into Social Security and could reduce your
benefit by as much as $463/mo. in 2019. To qualify for individual benefits,
even if reduced due to government pension(s), you still need at least 10
quarters of coverage (QC).
To access the SSA.gov WEP Calculator, visit:
www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/anyPiaWepjs04.html
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