Honeywing

Hello.

I wonder if someone could help me and my parents. My mother was a dual citizen but lived in the UK for most of her life until 2001 when we moved to the USA. My mum is 70 yrs old in January and hoping to retire. They received the uk Nic pension and have been told by the US social security that they class this as a private pension and that this will be deducted from their Social security in the USA. My mum and dad both worked in the uk for about 25 yrs and havE worked for 15 in the USA. Can you please explain to me why they would loose their social security in the USA. This could mean that they won’t be able retire and I’m very worried about them.

Mercury39

It is possible this is due to the Windfall Elimination Provision

Giantaxe

Yes, and the OP should do a search for that on here. Pretty endless discussion of it over the years.

Maximum WEP deduction is half of non-SS pensions up to a maximum as shown in the link below. But, as the OP's mother has delayed taking SS until age 70, the maximum deduction is actually higher than in the table:

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/wep-chart.html

You can certainly think of some "worst case scenarios" that would cause SS to be largely wiped out, but with a 15 year contribution record, income in those years would have to be pretty low for that to be the case.

Pulaski

Take a look at this thread, especially the last 20-30 pages, because a lot of the discussion concerns WEP and how it is calculated.

Those of us who know about it ahead of time can plan for it, and adjust, if necessary by saving more, or buying additional years of NI contributions when working outside the UK, but this may be a very bitter pill if your parents were unaware of WEP prior to their plans to retire imminently.