How to apply and receive benefits from WEP and/or GPO? We both retired from eleven years of working for Louisiana state departments in 1996. We are both 90 years old. Thank you, Nicholas

Hi Nicholas,

I'm not really sure what you're asking, and I'm unable to give you any advice without a lot more information. WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) and GPO (Government Pension Offset) are not types of benefits, however, if that's what you're thinking. Instead, they are provisions in the Social Security regulations that can result in lower Social Security benefits for some people who also receive pensions based on their earnings on which they didn't pay Social Security taxes (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf, https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Our software could analyze your options with regard to Social Security and determine your best strategy for claiming benefits, but if you're age 90 I would hope that you've already claimed any Social Security benefits for which you're eligible. Our software is fully capable of handling cases involving both WEP and GPO, so it would be able to determine what effect (if any) that those provisions would have on your Social Security benefits.

Best, Jerry