I am 63 years old. I grew up and worked in Peru until I was 44 years old. I moved to the US in 2001 and have earned the 40 credits needed. Since I moved to the US I’ve continued contributing to the Peruvian Social Security as in independent contractor.
Now, due to a work related injury I became disabled and I want to apply for Social Security disability.
Would one pension affect the other?

Hi,

I'm not familiar with Peru's Social Security program, so I don't know whether or not drawing U.S. Social Security benefits would affect your benefits from Peru. What I can tell you is that if you start drawing either U.S. Social Security retirement or disability benefits and you're receiving a pension based on your work in Peru, your U.S. Social Security rate will likely be lowered due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). WEP can result in the use of a different, less generous, benefit computation formula when calculating the U.S. Social Security retirement or disability benefit rate of people who also receive pensions based on their earnings that weren't subject to U.S. Social Security taxes. For additional information on WEP, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is fully programmed to handle WEP computations, so you may want to consider using it to do your Social Security planning.

Best, Jerry