Confused about WEP-adjusted Social Security benefits with delayed filing - DRCs calculated differently?

the WEP is a complet scam, im 70 and only get $1220 a month becuz of this ripoff. worked 15 yrs goverment job and 28 for private corp. my friend with similar jobs gets $2100 and never paid into gov pension. THE SYSTEM ROBS PEOPLE WHO WORKED HARD AND DESERVE BENEFITS!!!

You're understanding correctly. The WEP reduction is applied to the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) first, then any delayed retirement credits are calculated based on that reduced amount. The formula can be complicated, but essentially: 1. SSA calculates your PIA 2. WEP reduction is applied to that PIA 3. Delayed retirement credits (8% per year after FRA) are applied to the WEP-reduced PIA 4. COLAs are applied to the resulting amount Yes, spousal benefits are also based on the WEP-reduced amount, as they're calculated as 50% of the worker's PIA.

I went thru this last year and its confusing. The SSA regular calculator doesn't handle WEP right. You need to use the WEP calculator specifically on their site. I think my benefit was about 35% less than what I expected because of this provision.

The WEP calculation can be quite complex, but your understanding is correct. A few important points to consider: 1. The WEP reduction is capped at $534 (for 2025) or 50% of your pension amount, whichever is less 2. The WEP impact is reduced if you have more than 20 years of substantial earnings under Social Security. With 30+ years of substantial earnings, WEP doesn't apply at all. 3. For your husband with 22 years of substantial earnings, the WEP reduction would be approximately 80% of the maximum WEP penalty. The best approach is to request a detailed benefits calculation from SSA directly. Unfortunately, their online calculators don't always handle complex situations like WEP with delayed retirement credits accurately.

After spending WEEKS trying to get answers from SSA about my WEP calculation (constant busy signals, disconnects, hold times over 2 hours), I finally used Claimyr.com to get through to an agent. They connected me within 30 minutes! The agent was able to provide a complete breakdown of my WEP-adjusted benefit including DRCs. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - totally worth it for complex situations like WEP calculations where you need to speak with an actual person.

Have you checked to see if your husband qualifies for any WEP exemptions? My brother thought he'd be hit with WEP but his federal job was actually exempt (certain old CSRS positions are). Worth double-checking!

dont worry too much about the exakt calculation, SSA messes it up all the time anyway!! my friend got 3 diffrent answers from 3 diffrent agents about his WEP amount. just file and see what happens lol

To add some clarity to your questions about the calculations: 1. If his PIA before WEP is $2,400, and WEP reduces it to $1,800 2. Delaying to 70 adds 24% (3 years × 8%) to the WEP-reduced amount 3. So $1,800 × 1.24 = $2,232 would be his age 70 benefit 4. Your spousal benefit would be 50% of his PIA ($1,800), which is $900 This is before any COLAs are applied. COLAs would compound annually on these amounts depending on when he reached FRA.

By the way if ur hubby has exactly 22 yrs of substantial earnings under Social Security then the WEP hit is 10% LESS than the full WEP reduction. They reduce the penalty 5% for each year over 20. little known fact that even some SSA agents dont know!!

another thing to keep in mind is that the subsantial earnings threshold changes every year. my husband thought he had 25 years but when SSA actually calculated it, only 22 years counted because some of his earlier jobs didn't meet the threshold for those years. make sure you check the year-by-year substantial earnings table on SSA.gov!

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I'm going to try using the WEP calculator on the SSA website, but I think we'll also need to talk directly with an agent to get our specific situation figured out. It's frustrating that something as important as retirement planning has to be this complicated. I'll update once we get our actual calculation from SSA.

As someone who recently navigated this exact situation, I can confirm your understanding is correct but there are a few additional nuances to consider. My husband was also affected by WEP with a similar work history (20 years government, 25 years private sector). One thing that caught us off guard was that the WEP reduction can actually change over time based on your pension amount. If your husband's pension increases due to COLAs on the pension side, it could affect the WEP calculation since the reduction is capped at 50% of the pension amount. Also, make sure you understand how this impacts your survivor benefits planning. If something happens to your husband, your survivor benefit would be based on what he was actually receiving (the WEP-reduced amount), not what his benefit would have been without WEP. I'd strongly recommend getting a formal benefit estimate from SSA before making any final decisions about timing. The difference between filing at 67 vs 70 might not be as significant as you originally calculated once WEP is factored in.