Social Security Benefits
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| Social Security benefits for spouses and surviving spouses are subject to reduction if the government worker receives a pension from a federal, state, or local government based on employment where Social Security taxes were not paid. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will deduct two-thirds of the pension amount from the amount of Social Security spouse or surviving spouse benefits for which the dependent beneficiary is eligible. A dependent beneficiary's own Social Security benefits will remain unaffected by the Government Pension Offset (GPO).
Spouse or surviving spouse benefits will not be reduced under certain circumstances itemized by the SSA:
- the beneficiary receives a government pension that is
not based on earnings,
- the beneficiary is a state or local government
employee whose pension is based on employment where Social Security taxes were
paid and, pursuant to the Social Security Protection Act of 2004, such
employment was covered by Social Security for at least five years instead of
just the last day of employment (operation of the Act's provisions are
dependent upon the date of the last day of employment),
- the beneficiary is a federal employee who pays Social
Security taxes on his earnings,
- the beneficiary is a federal employee who chose to
participate in the Federal Employees' Retirement System as opposed to the
Civil Service Retirement System,
- the beneficiary was eligible to receive a government
pension prior to December 1982 and meets the SSA's criteria for spousal
benefits that were in effect in 1977, and
- the beneficiary was eligible to receive a government pension prior to July 1983 and received half his support from his spouse.
Even though a spouse or surviving spouse is exempt from the GPO, he may still be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision, which affects the benefits of retired or disabled workers. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |