Looks like Congress voted last night to finally get rid of WEP & GPO. While I don’t think WEP was as egregious as opponents made out it surely will make life easier for a lot of people, including expats who have both Social Security and a UK pension.

What is GPO please...?

Link here

This is great news.

I just had my Social Security WEP’d by about $500/month because they ‘lost’ my form about the UK pension. They assumed I am receiving a pension even though I won’t get it for another five years. I called them yesterday and they confirmed they have the form and it should be corrected soon.

It is Government Pension Offset and is very unfair to some couples as the spouse affected by GPO does not even receive SS survivor benefits when their spouse dies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social...Pension_Offset

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) is a statutory provision in United States law which affects benefits paid by the Social Security Administration. It reduces spousal Social Security retirement benefits in situations where the spouse did not pay Social Security taxes on their employment earnings. Many state and local government employees and other non-covered pension recipients do not contribute to the Social Security system. One exception to this provision occurs when the spouse is receiving a foreign pension for a different country, in which case the Government Pension Offset is not applied (unlike the Windfall Elimination Provision, which also applies to foreign pensions and benefits that the number holder receives). This is in contrast to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which reduces Social Security benefits of the actual number holder on whose Social Security record the claim is filed.

Government Pension Offset - I believe that unlike WEP, GPO only affects couples who receive a Government pension (usually a US State pension), it potentially reduces the Social Security of a spouse to $0. I'm pretty sure that foreign pensions do not trigger GPO, only WEP. As long as Biden signs the repeal there should be no more WEP or GPO.

"December 21, 2024, Senate passes Social Security bill to repeal WEP and GPO, heads to the president for his signature after a late night Senate vote."

Does this mean that UK expats with both UK pension and US SS would not be penalized by WEP after President Biden signs it?

Correct

Wonderful and fantastic news.

Just curious - repeal of WEP has been a story bubbling under for many years, but very much in a "pigs will fly" sort of way. Was there some specific event or person that turned the tide? I know some individuals have been fighting for it for a long time, but this feels like it came out of the blue.

I don't think it had much to do about expats but much more about government workers who didn't pay FICA for many years, and GPO in particular was bad for married couples who didn't get SS survivor or spouse benefits from their partner's SS benefits when they died. A few days before the Senate vote the head of the Fraternity of Police Officers made a personal visit to Mar-A-Largo to appeal in person to Trump/Musk. The police are currently in Trump's good books and he promised the police at that visit he would support the bill. (Different story if it had been the FBI workers affected)