I was born and raised in Ireland. I worked there until 1985. At that time, I did not have enough prsi ( credits) contributions to qualify for the minimum Irish pension when I reach 66 in the year 2025

I have now 23 years of substantial earnings in the USA. I am planning on taking early retirement this year. I only recently learned of the windfall elimination, and how it can affect a foreign pension.

This is where it gets complicated. Using totalization when I reach 66, I can qualify for the minimum Irish pension which will likely be about €80 per week. However, as I’m planning on moving back to Ireland, I was considering working there for about 1 1/2 years to make up the credits I need that would independently qualify me for the minimum Irish pension. By taking that route I would get a higher minimum pension than by using totalization.

But apparently by taking this route, I would become subject to the windfall elimination and therefore reduce my USA pension!
This all seems ridiculous to me. Why should the work I did back in Ireland, long before I ever set foot in the USA, have anything to do with my social security here? I paid taxes to the Irish government and would receive a pension based on that work. I paid taxes here in the USA and will receive my pension based on working here. Am I missing something?

Hi. Congress's reasoning for adding the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) to the Social Security law back in the 1980s relates to the fact that the calculation formula for Social Security retirement benefits is skewed to pay a higher percentage of past earnings to low income workers (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf). The thought behind the formula is that workers who had low earnings throughout their lifetimes would need a retirement benefit rate that's closer to their past earnings in order to pay for living expenses after they are too old to continue working. That's part of the 'social' aspect of Social Security.

Before WEP, people who only paid a limited amount of Social Security taxes not because they were low earners but because they worked mainly in employment where their earnings were exempt from Social Security taxes also received the benefit of the calculation formula that's skewed to pay back a higher proportion of a person's Social Security contributions to low income workers. Congress decided that was contrary to the intent of the calculation formula, and passed the WEP legislation to address their concerns.

Our software is fully programmed to handle WEP calculations, so you should strongly consider using the software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry