My husband died in 2011. He was born in the UK. He worked there from age 15 to age 29 when he emigrated t the USA. He worked in the USA where he became an American citizen from age 29 to age 65. When he received his social security pension they deducted his small social security pension from the UK. Which he did pay taxes in the U.S. on. Recently I was told this should not have happened. Your opinion

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss. Your husband's UK pension should not have been deducted from his US Social Security benefits, but I doubt if that's literally what happened. Unless your husband met one of the exceptions to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), then his Social Security retirement benefits from the U.S. would have potentially been subject to reduction if he also received a pension based on his work and earnings in the U.K. It sounds like that's probably what occurred in your husband's case. I don't have enough information about your husband's annual earnings in the U.S. to know if he met any of the exceptions to WEP, but you can find the exceptions listed in the following reference from Social Security's handbook: https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.07/handbook-0718.html.

On a positive note, any WEP reduction that applied to your husband's benefit rate while he was receiving his Social Security retirement benefits would not apply to the rate of any survivor benefits payable on his record. Therefore, if you qualify for a widow's benefit from your husband's record your benefit rate will not be affected by his work in the U.K.

Best, Jerry