On January 5, 2025, President Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law. It ended the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) retroactively to January 1, 2024.
On February 25, 2025, the Social Security Administration announced it is immediately beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions under the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023.
These provisions reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits for over 3.2 million
people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes.
people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes.
People who will benefit from the new law include some teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states; federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System; and people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.
Many beneficiaries will be due a retroactive payment because the WEP and GPO offset
no longer apply as of January 2024. Most people will receive their one-time retroactive
payment by the end of March 2025, which will be deposited into their bank account on record with Social Security. Many of these people will also receive higher monthly benefits, which will first be reflected in the benefit payment they receive in April.
no longer apply as of January 2024. Most people will receive their one-time retroactive
payment by the end of March 2025, which will be deposited into their bank account on record with Social Security. Many of these people will also receive higher monthly benefits, which will first be reflected in the benefit payment they receive in April.
Depending on factors such as the type of Social Security benefit received and the amount of the person’s pension, the change in payment amount will vary from person to person. Anyone whose monthly benefit is adjusted, or who will get a retroactive payment, will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change or retroactive payment. Most people will receive their retroactive payment two to three weeks before they receive their notice in the mail.
Social Security is expediting payments using automation and will continue to handle many complex cases that must be done manually, on an individual case-by-case basis.
Those complex cases will take additional time to update the beneficiary record and pay the correct benefits.
In many cases, depending on your individual situation, these payments may be taxable. You should plan for a higher tax liability next year when these payments are reported as taxable income on your return.
Social Security urges beneficiaries to wait until April to ask about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally into March. Since the new monthly payment amount will begin with the April payment, beneficiaries should wait until after receiving their April payment, before contacting Social Security with questions about their monthly benefit amount.
Visit the agency’s Social Security Fairness Act webpage to learn more and stay up to date on its progress. Visitors can subscribe to be alerted when the webpage is updated.
