I have teacher pensions from AK and CO that did not pay into social security. I have calculated the WEP impact on my social security payments. I paid into social security for 19 years when teaching in two other states. Am I allowed to file on my spouse's social security since he has paid into it his entire career and his social security benefit is higher?

Hi,

You could file for spousal benefits if you're at least age 62 and provided that you spouse is drawing his benefits, but your spousal benefits would likely be offset by 2/3rds of the total amount of your teacher pensions due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf. Also, unless you were born prior to January 2 1954, if you file for spousal benefits you'll be deemed to also be filing for your own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time.

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) can only affect a person's own Social Security retirement or disability benefits. GPO, on the other hand, can only affect auxiliary (e.g. spousal) and survivor benefits. Here's an example of how benefits are calculated for someone born after January 1 1954 who files for both spousal and retirement benefits.

Sally (DOB 7/15/1958) files for benefits at age 62. Sally's regular primary insurance amount (PIA) is $1000, but since she receives a $1200 monthly teacher's pension based on her earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, her PIA is reduced to $520 due to WEP. And, since Sally is filing at age 62 her benefit rate is reduced for age to $374. Sally's husband is receiving his benefits, so Sally is deemed to also be filing for spousal benefits. Sally's husband's PIA is $2400, and Sally's unreduced spousal rate is calculated by subtracting her PIA from 50% of her husband's PIA. In Sally's case, that results in an unreduced spousal rate of $680, but since Sally is only age 62 her spousal rate is reduced for age to $456. However, since Sally is receiving a teacher's pension from a public school district, her spousal benefits are offset by 2/3rds of the amount of her teacher's pension due to GPO. And, since 2/3rds of Sally's teacher's pension is more than her spousal rate, Sally's net spousal benefit is reduced to zero.

As the above example illustrates, even though Sally is technically eligible for spousal benefits she can't actually be paid any spousal benefits due to GPO. Sally can collect her own retirement benefits, though, because WEP never reduces a person's own Social Security retirement benefit rate to zero.

It sounds like you should strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to do your Social Security planning. The software is fully programmed to handle computations involving both WEP and GPO, so it should be able to help you determine your best possible filing strategy.

Best, Jerry