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Retroactive benefits from the windfall elimination repeal to begin
Those who are owed should soon start receiving their money.
By now, you may have heard from a colleague, family member, friend–or you’ve seen it yourself–the long-awaited implementation of the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset after passage of the Social Security Fairness Act is about to begin. Here’s the latest update:
Starting the week of Feb. 24, 2025, SSA is beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the WEP and GPO .
If a beneficiary is due retroactive benefits as a result of the Act, they will receive a one-time retroactive payment, deposited into the bank account SSA has on file, by the end of March. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in their benefit amount back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer apply.
Social Security benefits are paid one month behind. Most affected beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount in April 2025 (for their March 2025 benefit).
Anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change or retroactive payment.
NOTE: A beneficiary may receive two mailed notices, the first when WEP or GPO is removed from their record, and a second when their monthly benefit amount is adjusted for their new monthly payment amount. They may receive the retroactive payment before receiving the mailed notice.
We have been able to expedite payments due to the use of automation. For the many complex cases that cannot be processed automatically, additional time is required to manually update the records and pay both retroactive benefits and the new benefits amount.
We urge beneficiaries to wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally throughout March.
Beneficiaries should also wait until after receiving their April payment before contacting SSA to ask about their monthly benefit amount because the new amount will not be reflected until April for their March payment.
Note that there are four key dates:
- Week of Feb. 24: Payments are beginning to be processed.
- End of March 2025: This is when the lump sum payments dating back to January 2024 are expected to arrive in your bank account for those who are due backpay.
- April 2025: This is when the first regular payments for the “un-WEP’d” and “non-GPO’d” amount should arrive. Remember that Social Security pays the previous month's payment in the current month.
- Back to January 2024: The repeal will not be retroactive before this month. If you filed for Social Security benefits to begin earlier than January 2024, those benefits would remain impacted by the WEP and/or GPO and you will not receive compensation for those benefit reductions.
Federal Retirees (and employees over the Social Security Full Retirement Age) that have the most to gain from this repeal:
CSRS employee or retiree married to, divorced from or widowed from a non-federal spouse who paid into FICA: First, there are the CSRS employees/retirees who were exempt from Social Security taxes during their federal career who are the spouses, former spouses, and widows/widowers of Social Security covered workers. These CSRS individuals generally have little Social Security covered employment of their own, but may have been married, widowed or divorced from a spouse who paid into FICA during their career.
These CSRS employees (working past their full retirement age who are no longer subject to the earnings limit so they can receive benefits from Social Security even while employed) and retirees over age 62 who have eligibility for a spouse or widow’s benefit, had their benefits eliminated by the GPO. The GPO reduced a spouse or a surviving spouse’s benefit by 2/3 of the CSRS retirement. Employees and retirees under CSRS Offset are generally exempt from the GPO as long as they paid into FICA for the last five years of their career. You can find more information on this GPO fact sheet.
Example of a CSRS widow of Social Security covered spouse: Jane has been a CSRS retiree since 2015 when she retired after 35 years of service at age 61. She is currently receiving a CSRS retirement benefit of $3,900/month. Jane never worked long enough to qualify for a Social Security retirement benefit. Her CSRS career was exempt from FICA taxes and the other work she performed in the private sector before coming into federal service only provided her with 26 credits; 14 credits shy of the required 40. She is now 71 years old and widowed. Her spouse died in 2019 at age 70 and was receiving $1,800 in Social Security retirement benefits at the time of his passing. Jane has not received any Social Security widow’s benefits even though she was past her “Full Retirement Age” (FRA) at the time of her husband’s death.
When she contacted Social Security to claim the benefit that was worth 100% of her deceased husband’s benefit, she was told that there would be no benefit payable to her due to the GPO. This was because the $1,800 widow’s benefit was reduced by 2/3 of her CSRS retirement (2/3 of $3,900 equals $2,600). The $1,800 widow’s benefit after being offset by $2,600, left Jane with $0 Social Security benefits. She was left without an important source of income due to the loss of this benefit. Thanks to the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, Jane expects to receive 14 months of widow’s benefits in a lump sum in March. And then her first regular payment started in April. The amount of the benefit she is entitled was increased by the following cost-of-living adjustments since her husband passed away in 2019:
- Jan. 1, 2020: 1.6%
- Jan. 1, 2021: 1.3%
- Jan. 1, 2022: 5.9%
- Jan. 1, 2023: 8.7%
- Jan. 1, 2024: 3.2%
- Jan. 1, 2025: 2.0%
CSRS or CSRS Offset employee/retiree who worked long enough paying into FICA to qualify for an “earned” Social Security retirement benefit: CSRS and CSRS Offset employees and retirees must have earned at least 40 Social Security credits to be eligible for Social Security benefits. You earn credits when you work and pay Social Security taxes. The number of credits does not affect the dollar amount of the benefits you receive. You cannot receive any earned benefits if you don’t have enough credits. Many of these individuals are currently receiving benefits that they claimed at age 62 or later, but due to the modified formula used to compute the WEP, these benefits were reduced by the difference between 40% and 90% of the first level of the Social Security formula. For someone turning age 62 in 2025, this would result in a reduction of the difference between
40% of $1,226 instead of 90% of $1,226
Which equals $1,103.40 minus $490.40 or $613
This is $613 less than most Americans receive in the first part of the formula. The remainder of the formula is not impacted by the WEP. The $1,226 amount shown above is referred to as a “bend point” in the Social Security formula. In most years this amount increases from what it was for someone turning age 62. Here are the first “bend points” for the last 20 years:
- 2000: $531
- 2001: $561
- 2002: $592
- 2003: $606
- 2004: $612
- 2005: $627
- 2006: $656
- 2007 $680
- 2008 $711
- 2009 $744
- 2010 $761
- 2011 $749
- 2012 $767
- 2013 $791
- 2014 $816
- 2015 $826
- 2016 $856
- 2017 $885
- 2018 $895
- 2019 $926
- 2020 $960
- 2021 $996
- 2022 $1,024
- 2023 $1,115
- 2024 $1,174
- 2025 $1,226
If you have 30 or more years of substantial earnings, the first step of the formula remains at 90% and there is no WEP adjustment to worry about. If you have 21 to 29 years of substantial earnings, Social Security will reduce the 90% factor to between 45% and 85%. The maximum reduction in 2025 is $613 a month. To see the list of “substantial earnings” amounts and for more information about the WEP see the Windfall Elimination Provision Fact Sheet.
Example of CSRS retiree who is eligible for an earned Social Security retirement benefit: Joe served 10 years in the Air Force before leaving uniformed service and becoming employed as a civilian federal employee in the Department of the Air Force. When he retired in 2003 at age 55 with 32 years of service, he began receiving around 60% of his high-three average salary. In 2010, at age 62, Joe filed for his Social Security benefit that he earned from the 10 years he paid into FICA while serving on active duty. Due to the WEP, Joe was told that his earned benefit of $684.90/month would be computed using a modified formula leaving him with a reduced benefit of $304.40/month. Joe has been receiving reduced benefits for 15 years but is looking forward to the benefit being restored. Unfortunately, the new law will not restore his benefit all the way back to his starting date of benefits in 2010, but he will receive lump sum payment of 14 months of benefits dating back to the effective date of the repeal on Jan. 1, 2024. Joe’s benefit has been adjusted for cost-of-living since he started receiving benefits 15 years ago. The COLAs will be added to his benefit so that his current amount will be much greater than $684.90/month. His new unreduced monthly payments will begin in April. Here are the COLAs that will be computed in the benefit that will be paid to Joe:
- Jan. 1, 2011, 3.6%
- Jan. 1, 2012, 1.7%
- Jan. 1, 2013, 1.5%
- Jan. 1, 2014, 1.7%
- Jan. 1, 2015, 0.0%
- Jan. 1, 2016, 0.3%
- Jan. 1, 2017, 2.0%
- Jan. 1, 2018, 2.8%
- Jan. 1, 2019, 1.6%
- Jan. 1, 2020, 1.3%
- Jan. 1, 2021, 5.9%
- Jan. 1, 2022, 8.7%
- Jan. 1, 2023, 3.2%
- Jan. 1, 2024, 2.5%
- Jan. 1, 2025, 2.0%
The following individuals will not benefit from the repeal of the WEP and/or GPO:
- A federal retiree who worked under FERS and paid into Social Security during their entire career.
- The spouse or widow of a CSRS (or CSRS Offset) employee/retiree who was not employed under CSRS and is receiving a CSRS benefit of their own.
- A CSRS or CSRS Offset retiree who has more than 30 years of substantial Social Security covered employment (see the WEP Fact Sheet).
- A CSRS retiree who is not married, widowed or divorced from a Social Security covered current or former spouse or survivor of a current or former spouse will not be affected by the GPO (see the GPO Fact Sheet).
Check the Social Security website frequently for updates on the Social Security Fairness Act.