Social Security Government Pension Offset

Government pension offset gpo applies to spousal benefits when the spouse is also entitled to a pension from work not covered by social security.

Social security government pension offset.

It was meant to keep public sector employees from receiving both a social security benefit and a pension from work where they did not pay into the social security system. The government pension offset gpo is a social security rule that affects workers with government pensions who also receive social security spousal or survivor benefits. Generally we won t reduce your social security benefits as a spouse widow or widower if. The rule does not affect the worker s own social security benefits if any nor their government pension nor does it reduce the benefits belonging to the spouse.

Government pension offset a law that affects spouses and widows or widowers if you receive a retirement or disability pension from a federal state or local government based on your own work for which you didn t pay social security taxes we may reduce your social security spouses or widows or widowers benefits. This intent was to stop an indivual from double dipping. The government pension offset gpo was enacted as part of the 1977 social security amendments. The government pension offset allows the ssa to reduce what you get from social security in the form of spousal or survivor benefits if you also receive a pension.

It reduces the amount of those benefits by two thirds. The government pension offset affects only your social security spousal or survivor benefit. If the social security payment is 800 or less the gpo would reduce it to zero. Government includes federal state and local entities.

Exemptions to the government pension offset. If you receive a pension from a government job but did not pay social security taxes while you had the job we ll reduce your social security spouse widow or widower benefits by two thirds of the amount of your government pension. These include but are not limited to civil service pensions public employees retirement systems some teachers police and firemen women. The government pension offset will reduce social security benefits by 2 3 of the amount of the pension you receive from the government.

A similar rule the government pension offset gpo reduces social security spousal or survivor benefits for spouses widows and widowers who also collect a non covered pension from their government jobs. If your social security benefit is subject to the windfall elimination provision or wep the effect of the wep is affected by the number of years of substantial earnings you have accumulated under.