I lived for 12 years in the UK with my British husband and am receiving a small UK social security type pension. I earned 0 income in the US in those 12 years and my history shows those years as 0. I am now claiming from social security at my full retirement age of 66 in February and I've been told that I am subject to "windfall elimination provision" because I'm collecting a small amount from the UK. Approximately $200 a month is being subtracted from what I will receive. That doesn't seem fair as I'm not earning from the US for those 12 years so it isn't like I'm double dipping. Please explain and let me know if I can do anything about this. Thank you!

Hi,

Anyone who receives a pension based on their earnings which were exempt from U.S. Social Security taxes is subject to receiving a lowered U.S. Social Security retirement or disability benefit, unless they meet one of the exceptions to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Basically, the WEP provision mandates the use of an alternate, less generous, benefit calculation method when computing Social Security retirement or disability benefit rates for people who also receive certain non-covered pensions.

The most common exemption from a WEP reduction applies to individuals who have at least 30 years of U.S. Social Security covered earnings that are defined as 'substantial' under WEP rules. People who have between 20 and 30 years of 'substantial earnings' are not exempt from WEP, but the amount of their WEP reduction is not as large as it would be if they had 20 or fewer years of substantial earnings. There is also a WEP guarantee provision that limits the amount of reduction caused by WEP to basically no more than half of the amount of the person's non-covered pension. For a list of other WEP exceptions and the yearly 'substantial earnings' minimum amounts, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.

I don't have enough information about your earnings history to know whether or not your U.S. benefits should be reduced due to WEP, but If you believe that WEP was wrongly applied in your case you may be able appeal Social Security's determination. Requests for appeal must normally be filed within 60 days of the determination being appealed, but appeal requests are permitted to be filed later than that if good cause for late filing can be established (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10041.pdf).

Best, Jerry