Dear Liz: I am a teacher getting ready to retire. I have been collecting a spousal benefit from my husband’s Social Security. My understanding is that once I start collecting my pension, I will be subject to the windfall elimination provision. Is there a way to continue to collect against my husband’s Social Security, which is greater than my own Social Security benefit?
Answer: Because you will be receiving a pension from a job that didn’t pay into Social Security, you’re subject to two provisions: the windfall elimination provision, which can reduce but not eliminate your own Social Security benefit, and the government pension offset, which can reduce or eliminate any spousal or survivor benefit.
If the GPO wipes out your spousal benefit, you may still get at least a portion of your own benefit. Claiming strategy sites such as Maximize My Social Security and Social Security Solutions could help you estimate the effect of those provisions.
My wife was in a similar situation. It is the responsibility of the recipient to inform Social Security of the commencement of a pension. Due to COVID we were unable to find this out, contact anyone in Social Security, or make changes. We were collecting both her pension and Social Security. We resolved it after 2 years. We owed 2 years of overpayment which was the full amount. They identified the reduced amount she should have been receiving as an underpayment for which they would only reimburse for 6 months. The maximum penalty on an overpayment is 5 years. The maximum reimbursement for an underpayment is 6 months. You can be overpaid on spousal benefit and underpaid on personal benefit at the same time.