Ask Larry

What Can I Do If I Think That Social Security Made A Mistake In Calculating My Benefit Amount?

I started my Canada Pension at age 60 @ approx $142 per month. At age 62 I started my Social Security for approx $600 after WEP. However the WEP the agent assessed was dollar for dollar $142 with no exchange rate factored. If I understand correctly, my WEP assessment should have been half my CPP with exchange rate applied? If true, what can I do?

Hi. If it's been less than 60 days since you received your award letter from Social Security, you can request an appeal (https://www.ssa.gov/apply/appeal-application-decision). If it's been more than 60 days since you received your award letter then you'd need to establish good cause for filing a late appeal request (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0203101020).

If it's too late to file an appeal request and if you don't have good cause for late filing, you could still submit a written and signed request to Social Security asking them to reopen the determination on your case (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0204001050).

As for the merits of a possible appeal, I don't have enough information to give you an opinion. It's true that the foreign exchange rate can be involved in calculating the amount of any benefit reduction resulting from the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), but only if the WEP guarantee is involved (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0300605372). Basically, the WEP guarantee states that the amount of WEP reduction can't exceed 50% of the amount of a person's pension that's based on earnings that were exempt from U.S. Social Security taxes. However, the WEP guarantee calculation is only used if it results in a higher benefit rate than the benefit rate that the person would receive using the regular WEP calculation formula.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Dec 8 2022 - 11:45am
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