Will Windfall Elimination Provision reduce my wife's Social Security benefits due to her pension and 401k?

Your wife is referring to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). This affects people who worked in jobs not covered by Social Security (like many state/local government positions) AND also worked enough in SS-covered jobs to qualify for benefits. The WEP can reduce her SS retirement benefit, but it doesn't eliminate it completely. The reduction depends on how many "substantial earnings" years she had in Social Security-covered employment. With 15 years in the private sector, she'll definitely face some reduction, but it might not be as bad as she fears. Important: Her 401k distributions have NO effect on this calculation - it's only the pension from non-SS-covered employment that triggers WEP. The SSA has a calculator on their website to estimate the impact.

THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT THIS UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE!! My husband got hit with the same thing after 22 years working for the county. It's totally unfair that they take away SS benefits you EARNED just because you also get a pension. And good luck getting anyone at SS to clearly explain how much you'll lose - we called 8 TIMES and got different answers every single time!!!

There are actually two provisions that might affect your wife: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and possibly the Government Pension Offset (GPO). WEP will affect her own Social Security benefits. The maximum reduction for 2025 is approximately $575 per month, but it depends on her year of birth and how many years of substantial earnings she had in SS-covered employment. GPO is different - it would reduce any spousal or survivor benefits she might receive from YOUR record (by 2/3 of her government pension). Her 401k has no impact on either of these calculations. For your specific situation, she should: 1. Get her Social Security Statement online or request one by mail 2. Ask her pension administrator for a WEP/GPO information letter 3. Use the WEP calculator on SSA.gov to estimate the actual reduction With 15 years in SS-covered employment, she won't face the maximum WEP reduction.

i went thru this 2 yrs ago. my pension from teaching reduced my ss but not by as much as i thought. had about 18 yrs of private work b4 teaching. still got about 65% of my full benefit even with WEP. ur wife might b ok with 15 yrs

When I tried calling the SSA about my WEP calculation, I spent three weeks trying to get through. Kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU. The agent was able to run the exact calculation for my situation and it was actually less of a reduction than I feared. Worth knowing about if you need to get specific answers from SSA about your wife's situation.

Just want to clarify something important that others haven't mentioned. The Windfall Elimination Provision only applies to pensions from employment NOT covered by Social Security. If your wife's government employer was participating in Social Security (some do), then WEP won't apply to her at all. You need to find out if her government job was paying into Social Security or only into their pension system.

My dad retirement from county gov and lost almost half his social security!!! They dont tell u this stuff until ur already retired and its to late to plan 4 it. The whole system is rigged against public workers

Another important factor: if your wife had 30+ years of "substantial earnings" in SS-covered employment, the WEP wouldn't apply at all. With 21-29 years, there's a reduced penalty. At 15 years, she'll face a more significant reduction, but as others have mentioned, it's not the full $575 maximum WEP reduction. The SSA defines "substantial earnings" differently each year ($30,750 for 2025). Your wife should check her earnings record on MySocialSecurity to see how many qualifying years she has. Also worth noting: If her SS benefit is very low to begin with, she might actually do better filing for a spousal benefit based on your record (assuming you have one), even with the Government Pension Offset applied.

To answer your latest question - yes, she could potentially get a spousal benefit (up to 50% of your FRA benefit) if it's higher than her own WEP-reduced benefit. However, the GPO would reduce that spousal benefit by 2/3 of her government pension. Quick math: If your FRA benefit is $3,100, her potential spousal benefit would be $1,550. But if her government pension is $4,200, the GPO reduction would be $2,800 (2/3 of $4,200). Since $2,800 > $1,550, her spousal benefit would unfortunately be reduced to $0. This is why so many government workers with substantial pensions end up getting little to no spousal benefits. The system is designed to treat them similarly to other workers who pay fully into Social Security throughout their careers. For her own benefit, she should still run the WEP calculator on SSA.gov with her specific years of substantial earnings to get the most accurate estimate.