Can I be penalize twice for the 2/3 rule? I retired from DoD and became a contractor paying into SS. When I retired from private industry, I was assessed 2/3 reduction. I accepted that, it was not news. My spouse passed several years later (last year). When I applied for widow's benefit I was told in one paragraph that I would receive $700 more a month (the difference between my husband SS). In the next paragraph I was told that I would not get the additional monies because of the 2/3 rule. I reclama it in writing using double penalization rule. Have never heard anything more. This has been almost a year. I believe that I am entitled to this additional monies. I am 79 years old. Can you help?

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds like you're confusing two separate Social Security provisions. The 2/3rds offset rule is part of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision. GPO can only affect auxiliary or survivor benefits, such as spousal or widow's benefits. The basic GPO rule is that if you're receiving a pension based on your earnings from governmental work in the U.S. (e.g. federal, state, county, municipal) where your wages were exempt from Social Security taxes, then any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which you qualify can be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your non-Social Security covered government pension (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

The GPO provision does not apply to Social Security retirement benefits payable based on a person's own earnings history, though. However, there is a different provision, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), that can reduce a person's Social Security retirement benefit rate. The basic WEP rule is that if you're drawing a pension that's based on your earnings that weren't subject to Social Security taxes, then that pension can cause your Social Security retirement or disability benefit rate to be calculated using a different and less generous formula than the normal formula that's used to compute Social Security retirement and disability benefit rates. There is a WEP guarantee provision that limits the amount that a person's Social Security retirement or disability benefit can be reduced by WEP to no more than 50% of the amount of the non-Social Security covered pension. There is no 2/3rds offset rule involved in the WEP provision, though (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf).

It is possible, and not unusual, for a person to be adversely affected by both the WEP and GPO provisions. If you worked for a governmental employer where you didn't pay Social Security taxes on your earnings and if you receive a pension based on those earnings, then your own Social Security retirement benefit rate would likely be lower because of the less generous computation method used when WEP is involved. And, if you also qualify for spousal or survivor benefits from Social Security, your non-covered government pension can cause your spousal or survivor benefits to be offset by 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension.

I have no way of knowing if your benefits have been correctly calculated. But, if you're receiving a pension that's based on your work for the federal government and if your federal wages were exempt from Social Security taxes, then it's quite likely that WEP would cause your own Social Security retirement benefit rate to be reduced. And, GPO would likely also cause a full or partial offset of your Social Security widow's benefits. By the way, both the WEP and GPO provisions were passed into law by Congress in the 1980s, so people who believe the provisions are unfair should direct their suggestions to their representatives in Congress.

Best, Jerry