This month I'm the full retirement age of 66, and I'm currently receiving a government pension, but I haven't retired through SS. My husband retired at 65 years of age, 7 years ago. His monthly SS benefits is $2,612 and according to my SS statement, my monthly amount at the age of 66 would be $997 before WEP. Since I was born after January 2, 1954, it is my understanding that I can't apply under my husbands record, and suspend filing on my record until I'm 70 years of age. But, I read your response someone else today that said something to the contrary. Specifically regarding applying under a spouses record, and that WEP wouldn't apply in that instance. Would you please clarify this for me?
Thank you,
Laura

Hi Laura,

What you may have read is that the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) does not directly apply to spousal benefits. WEP can only apply to Social Security retirement or disability benefits payable based on a person's own work record. WEP can indirectly affect spousal benefits, though, in that spousal benefits are paid based on a percentage of the worker's primary insurance amount (PIA). A person's PIA is equal to their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they start drawing their benefits at full retirement age (FRA). Therefore, if a worker's PIA is lower due to WEP, any auxiliary (e.g. spousal, child) benefits payable from that worker's record would also be lower.

However, there is another provision called Government Pension Offset (GPO) that does apply to spousal and survivor benefits. Based on the GPO provision, if a person receives a government pension based on their earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, any Social Security spousal or survivor benefits for which the person qualifies would be offset by 2/3rds of their government pension (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10007.pdf).

Based on your description, it sounds like your own benefits would likely be lower as a result WEP, and you'll only be able to qualify for spousal benefits if your excess spousal rate would be more than 2/3rds of the amount of your government pension. Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is programmed to handle both WEP and GPO calculations, so you and your husband may want to strongly consider using the software to do your Social Security planning.

Best, Jerry