Do You Receive Foreign Social Security or Foreign Pensions? How will the WEP Elimination Effect You?
Lisbon, Portugal. Picture Courtesy: www.pixabay.com Passage of the Social Security Fairness Act & End of WEP. The Social Security Fairness Act was passed on January 5th, 2025, which ended the Windfall Elimination Provision [WEP] and Government Pension Offset [GPO]. WEP & GPO which was implemented in 1985, reduced or eliminated benefits payable to who used to receive pensions on work whcih was not covered by Social Security. The logic was that these employees did not pay Social Security taxes on their income. Hence receiving both a full pension as well as Social Security was considered a "Windfall". By eliminating the "Windfall", the SS Fairness Act now increases SS Benefits for teachers, firefighters and police officers in many states; federal employees in the Civil Service Retirement System and those whose work had been covered by a foreign country's social security equivalent program. Countries with Social Security Systems Many other countries h...
