My wife is 67 and filed on her own record at full retirement age (66) with a benefit of $1438. I worked in England and am receiving $875 per month state pension (English version of social security) That figure is based on contributions from my English wages and also a voluntary contribution to raise my earning years from 24 to 35 years so I could received the maximum amount. . I also qualify for an Irish State pension (social security) of $485 per month based on contributions there and totalization with my England and USA record. My USA contributions to Soc Sec is 6 years at very low wages. I will be 66 in November and plan on filing for spousal benefits based on my wife's USA record. I was born in 1953. Should I file for deemed benefits and use totalization or should I file a restricted application? Will GPO be applied? If the USA uses totalization for my record, I don't think my benefits would equal 1/2 of my spousal benefit, so I need to know the best way to get the full 1/2 spousal benefit. Thank you.

Hi,

Foreign pensions don't count as government pensions for purposes of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision, so it sounds like you should be able to receive a full spousal benefit (i.e. 50% of your wife's primary insurance amount (PIA)) at your full retirement age (FRA). You would probably be better off to restrict your claim to spousal benefits only, especially if your own U.S. Social Security benefit would be less than 50% of your wife's PIA. You could then file for your own Social Security retirement benefits at age 70 if you could be paid a higher amount on your own account.

If you have fewer than 40 quarters of U.S. Social Security coverage then you'll only qualify for Social Security benefits on your own account based in part on credit for your foreign work in countries with whom we have a totalization agreement. A complicated formula is used to calculate totalization benefits, so I can't tell you whether or not your totalization benefit would be higher than your spousal rate. In any case, though, by waiting past FRA to claim your totalization benefit you would accrue delayed retirement credits (DRC), which would add 32% to your benefit rate if you wait until age 70 to start drawing. If and when you do start drawing on your own record, though, your own benefit rate will offset your spousal rate dollar for dollar. So, you'll only end up ahead if your totalization benefit is higher than your spousal rate.

Best, Jerry