MB2712

I have been going through the threads to do with pensions but cannot see anything similar to my question.

I came to the USA in 2005.

I was married to a US citizen who sadly passed away in 2016. I became a citizen in 2018.

I am now 60 years old and currently receiving survivor benefits from social security.

I worked for a company in England who are now wanting me to take my pension. The pension was in a deferred state as I left their employment in the 90's.
There will be a lump sum payment of about 15000 GBP (tax free) and then small monthly payments of less than 200 GBP

My question is, will this affect my survivors benefit? I have read that it wouldn't, but in another article I read that it would be subject to WEP
I am not due to get my UK state Pension for a few more years. My local security office said I was better off claiming survivor benefit instead of claiming on my own record when I reach retirement age so I will not be claiming the usual social security, I will remain on survivor benefit..

Also, will I be taxed on the lump sum here?
Many thanks in advance

Giantaxe

I am pretty sure claiming on your deceased spouse's record (either through survivor's benefit or using their record to claim normal social security) will not bring WEP into play. So you will have to do the calculation to see which is better for you: The maximum WEP per month is limited, in general, to the smaller of half your non-SS pensions (i.e. half your UK work pension plus UK state pension) or $480. Once you know that figure, you would need to get at least that amount more from claiming on your own SS record to make it financially worthwhile.

There's another ongoing thread about lump sum distributions.

MB2712

Thank you for your response.

The woman at the Social Security office looked up my work record and told me it would be better to just keep survivor benefits as based on my work record here in the USA the survivor benefit would pay more. I will look for the other thread.Many thanks!

lansbury

I claim my SS based on my wife's account. While her SS was subject to WEP, she lived in the UK for 10 years, once her pension had been calculated, my pension (50% of hers) was not subject to WEP again because I had UK pensions..