Your estimated monthly benefits will be presented below. However, his spousal benefit under his wifes social security would be considerably higher than his own social security benefit. Do they have the right to cut my benefits before I receive my pension? PDF Windfall Elimination Provision - Social Security Administration For help you can contact him now through his email and mobileRead more . If you consider how much more in benefits you could receive over your retirement lifetime, it could be worth $100,000 or more in extra income over a 20-year retirement! HOW THE WEP WORKS: Social Security benefits are calculated by applying three different percentages to a person's lifetime average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) and adding them up to obtain the worker's monthly benefit (primary insurance amount (PIA)) at full retirement age. Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) Online Calculator The reintroduced Social Security Fairness Act would eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. startxref Broadly speaking, these provisions can reduce Social Security benefits for certain public workers who did not pay Social Security taxes during substantial portions of their working lives. Many teachers came to education as a second career, after theyd spent years working in a job where Social Security taxes were withheld. Thanks for your article. Social Security benefits use a weighted formula to ensure lower-paid workers receive a larger percentage of their preretirement earnings than highly paid workers. If your birthday is on January 1st, use the year before you reach age 62. These may include early retirement, delayed retirement credits, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), or other factors. The result of this alternate formula is a lower benefit amount. Since Molly had less than 30 years of covered employment, her AIME is reduced, and her PIA for Social Security benefits is calculated as: 40% of first $1,024 of AIME equals $409.60, plus, 32% of amount over $1,024 through $6,172 equals $872.32, plus. Thus, workers with 30or more YOCs have a first PIA factor of 90percent, workers with 2129YOCs have a first PIA factor between 4585percent, and workers with 20YOCs have a first PIA factor of 40percent. How does WEP work for a lump-sum pension payout? The following chart from the Social Security AdministrationSee note1 shows the minimum amount you need to have earned in a certain year to meet the "substantial earnings test." 0000142139 00000 n future (inflated) dollars. However, the difference between the regular PIA and the WEP PIA cannot exceed one-half of the monthly non-covered pension. Under the WEP, every CSRS employee who reaches age 62 and is eligible for an annuity based in whole or part on employment where they didnt pay Social Security taxes will have a lower formula used to compute their Social Security benefit.