I just discovered via your book about a windfall elimination provision in the US which reduces your Uk pension by HALF (!!!!!) when it comes time to take your US social security here. I have eight years of substantial income here. However, I have been contributing to the UK from abroad and estimate I will get maybe $600 a month. My SS will also be small so I want to wait until I am 70 to increase it. I plan to take UK pension at 66 and delay taking US SS until I am 70. I can’t seem to find that scenario anywhere on line. Since I won’t yet be taking the SS I assume I will get to keep that my full pension for now. But when it comes time to take my SS will they then clobber me fir those four years and make me pay back pay? Eek!

Hi. No. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) only applies to U.S. Social Security retirement and disability benefits, not your UK pension. Furthermore, WEP does not apply unless and until you are collecting both a U.S. Social Security retirement or disability benefit and a pension based on your earnings that were exempt from U.S. Social Security taxes.

Therefore, your UK benefit rate will never be affected by WEP. But, if you're drawing a UK pension that's based on your non-U.S. covered earnings, then when you start collecting your U.S. Social Security retirement benefits your U.S. benefit rate will likely be lowered as a result of WEP (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf).

Our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) is programmed to handle WEP calculations, so you may want to strongly consider using the software to fully analyze all of your options so that you can determine the best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry