Social Security Administration (SSA)
Estimate of Your Social Security Benefit
You should ask your local Social Security Office for form SSA-7004-PC, Request
for Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement, or visit the Social
Security Administration website. If you submit this form, you will get
a statement that provides information on your future eligibility for Social Security
benefits and estimates of these benefits at specified dates. These estimates
do not reflect any reduction for the Government
Pension Offset or the Windfall Elimination
Provision (WEP).
Government Pension Offset
Some of an employee's spousal Social Security benefit may be offset if the employee
has a government pension from work not covered by Social Security. The offset
does not apply to the employee's own Social Security benefit, only the benefit
that comes from a spouse's employment. If the Government Pension Offset
applies, the spousal Social Security benefit will be reduced by two-thirds of
any Federal pension based on employment not covered by Social Security.
Some employees are exempt from the Government Pension Offset. They are employees
who are automatically covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS),
Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Offset, and those who elected to transfer
to FERS before January 1, 1988, or during the belated transfer period which ended
June 30, 1988. Employees who were covered by CSRS and who elected FERS coverage
after June 30, 1988, must have five years of Federal employment covered by Social
Security to be exempt from the offset.
Windfall Elimination Provision
If you receive a Federal pension and are also eligible for Social Security benefits
based on your own employment record, a different formula may be used to compute
your Social Security benefit. This formula will result in a lower benefit.
The Windfall Elimination Provision affects workers who reach age 62 or
become disabled after 1985 and are first eligible after 1985 for a Federal pension.
The Windfall Elimination Provision does not apply if:
- You were eligible to retire before January 1, 1986; or
- You were first employed by the government after December 31, 1983; or,
- You have 30 or more years of substantial earnings under Social Security.
Estimating the Amount of the Government Pension Offset
and Windfall Elimination Provision Reduction
You should contact your local Social Security office to determine the effect of
the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision on your Social
Security benefits.
Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Service Subject
to Offset Due to Social Security Eligibility
Federal employees hired or rehired on or after January 1, 1984, who are covered
by both CSRS and Social Security at the same time are called CSRS Offset Employees.
CSRS offset employment time is used to compute the annuity we pay you. However,
your CSRS annuity will be reduced when you become eligible for Social Security
benefits. The offset applies when the basic requirements for Social Security
are met, generally at age 62, even if you do not apply for those benefits.
If you are not eligible for Social Security benefits at age 62, there is no offset
unless you become eligible later.
The offset reduction is the lesser of the:
- Difference between the SSA monthly benefit amounts with and without CSRS offset service, or
- Product of the SSA monthly benefit amount with Federal earnings multiplied by a fraction where the numerator is the employee's total CSRS offset service rounded to the nearest whole number of years and the denominator is 40.
Effect of Entitlement to Social Security Benefits on FERS Disability
Benefits
If you are under age 62 and your annuity benefits were computed using either 60%
or 40% of your "high-3" average salary, OPM will reduce your monthly annuity by
all or a portion of your Social Security benefits. While you are receiving
an annuity computed using the 60% computation, OPM must reduce your monthly annuity
by 100% of any Social Security disability benefit to which you are entitled.
While you are receiving an annuity computed using the 40% computation, your monthly
annuity will be reduced by 60% of any Social Security disability benefit to which
you are entitled. T his reduction only applies for months in which you are concurrently
entitled to both FERS and Social Security benefits.
Effect of Entitlement to Social Security Benefits on FERS Child
Survivor Annuity Benefit
Receipt of Social Security benefits affects a child's entitlement to a FERS survivor
benefit. The total FERS benefits payable to all children are reduced by
the total Social Security benefits payable to all children. The remaining
amount is divided by the total number of children payable under FERS. Each eligible
child receives this amount. If the Social Security benefits equal or exceed
the FERS benefits, no FERS benefits are be paid. In many cases, the payments from
Social Security will eliminate the FERS benefit altogether.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management 1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20415 | (202) 606-1800 | TTY (202) 606-2532