The Windfall Elimination Provision was a Social Security rule that reduced retirement and disability benefits for people who also received a pension from work where they didn’t pay Social Security taxes. It was repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, and the repeal applies to benefits payable from January 2024 onward.1U.S. Congress. Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 If your benefit was cut by the WEP, it isn’t anymore, and the Social Security Administration has been issuing back pay to cover the months since the retroactive date.
What the WEP Did
Social Security’s benefit formula is tilted to favor lower earners. It replaces 90 percent of the first bracket of a worker’s average indexed monthly earnings, 32 percent of the second, and 15 percent of the third.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 415 Computation of Primary Insurance Amount That generous 90 percent rate at the bottom is meant for people who spent their careers in low-wage jobs.
The WEP existed because some workers looked low-paid in Social Security’s records without actually being low-paid. They had spent much of their career in jobs that didn’t pay into Social Security, so only a fragment of their real earnings showed up on their record. Congress introduced the WEP through the Social Security Amendments of 1983 to reduce that first-bracket percentage for these workers, and at its peak the provision affected roughly two million beneficiaries.3Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision
Who Was Affected
Three groups shared the same trigger: a pension from employment that didn’t withhold Social Security taxes.
Federal Employees Under CSRS
Federal workers hired before January 1, 1984, were generally covered by the Civil Service Retirement System rather than Social Security.4Social Security Administration. Social Security Benefits for Federal Workers They contributed 7 to 8 percent of their pay to CSRS but didn’t pay Social Security tax on their government wages.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. CSRS Information When these employees also qualified for Social Security through other work, the WEP cut that Social Security benefit. Federal employees hired on or after January 1, 1984, fall under FERS, which includes Social Security, so the WEP never touched them.6U.S. Office of Personnel Management. FERS Information
State and Local Government Employees
Some state and local retirement systems operate outside Social Security. Teachers, police officers, and firefighters in those systems were among the most commonly affected.7U.S. Railroad Retirement Board. Frequently Asked Questions About the Social Security Fairness Act If they earned enough Social Security credits from other jobs to qualify for a benefit, the WEP reduced it.8Social Security Administration. State and Local Government Employment Workers whose agencies had opted into Social Security coverage through a Section 218 Agreement paid Social Security taxes on their government wages and were not subject to the WEP.9Social Security Administration. Section 218 Agreements
Workers With Foreign Pensions
A pension earned from work in another country could also trigger the WEP, because those earnings weren’t taxed by the United States. One exception mattered here: a foreign pension based on a totalization agreement between the U.S. and the other country did not trigger the WEP.10Social Security Administration. Foreign Pensions Based on a Totalization Agreement With the United States – Effect on the Windfall Elimination Provision “Based on” meant the worker actually needed the agreement to qualify, typically by combining U.S. and foreign work credits. If the foreign pension was earned entirely under the other country’s own rules, the exemption didn’t apply.
How the Reduction Was Calculated
The WEP replaced the 90 percent first-bracket multiplier with a lower one. For a worker with 20 or fewer years of substantial Social Security-covered earnings, the multiplier dropped to 40 percent.11Social Security Administration. Windfall Elimination Provision The 32 percent and 15 percent multipliers on the higher brackets were untouched.
A sliding scale gave partial relief to workers with more time in covered employment. Each year of substantial covered earnings between 21 and 29 added five percentage points:
- 21 years: 45 percent
- 22 years: 50 percent
- 23 years: 55 percent
- 24 years: 60 percent
- 25 years: 65 percent
- 26 years: 70 percent
- 27 years: 75 percent
- 28 years: 80 percent
- 29 years: 85 percent
- 30 or more years: 90 percent (no reduction)
“Substantial earnings” was a dollar threshold the Social Security Administration set each year. A worker with 30 or more years above that threshold escaped the WEP entirely.
A separate safeguard, the WEP guarantee, capped the cut at half of the non-covered pension. A retiree with a $400 monthly pension from non-covered work could never lose more than $200 from their Social Security benefit, regardless of what the formula produced.3Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision
The WEP also reduced Social Security Disability Insurance for workers who received a disability pension from non-covered employment.11Social Security Administration. Windfall Elimination Provision
Repeal and Retroactive Payments
The Social Security Fairness Act (Public Law 118-273) struck the WEP formula from 42 U.S.C. ยง 415 and repealed the Government Pension Offset in the same law.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 415 Computation of Primary Insurance Amount December 2023 was the last month the WEP applied. Every benefit payable from January 2024 forward is calculated without it.12Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)
The Social Security Administration began adjusting monthly payments on February 25, 2025. Most affected beneficiaries started seeing the higher amount in April 2025, covering the March 2025 benefit. By July 2025 the agency had issued more than 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion, running five months ahead of its original schedule.12Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) Increases vary widely. Some beneficiaries gained a small amount each month; others picked up more than $1,000, depending on the benefit type and the size of the non-covered pension.
What to Do Now
If you were already collecting a Social Security benefit reduced by the WEP, you generally don’t need to do anything. The Social Security Administration is recalculating benefits automatically and issuing a one-time lump-sum payment for the increase going back to January 2024. Check that your mailing address and direct deposit details are current in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov so the money reaches you.12Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)
If you never filed for retirement, spousal, or survivor benefits because you thought the WEP or GPO would wipe them out, take a fresh look. The repeal did not change how far back a new application can reach: retirement and survivor claims are generally retroactive up to six months before the month you file, and some disability claims allow up to 12 months. Filing sooner protects the largest possible back payment.
The GPO, in Short
Searchers often mix up the WEP with the Government Pension Offset, so it helps to keep them straight. The WEP reduced your own Social Security retirement or disability benefit. The GPO reduced spousal or survivor benefits by two-thirds of your non-covered government pension.13Social Security Administration. Government Pension Offset Both were repealed by the same law, on the same retroactive schedule.