From form SSA-308 item number 8:-

If you received a lump sum payment instead of a periodic pension, enter the amount of the payment and, if known, the specific period of time for which the payment would be due. If unknown, show "unknown."

$ for the period from through
(Amount) (MM/YYYY) (MM/YYYY or Lifetime)

I am UK citizen who worked in the USA from 1995-2006. I have 45 quarters of SS credits and so qualify for SS. I live in the UK. I'm currently 62.

I am yet to apply for SS. I did have 3 small UK pension pots (2 work related and 1 was FSAVC funded 100% from own post-tax income). These pensions were small so I cashed them in on January 2023. The total for all 3 (after tax) was about £25k.

£2.7k (Standard Life FSAVC) should be excluded as this was funded entirely by own money.
£4k was from work pension - (worked there 9 months - June 2008 to February 2009)
£15.5k was from work pension - (worked there 19 months - August 2006 to February 2008). This was over-taxed and an HMRC refund of £3k in Feb 2023 gives total of £18.5k. I was age 60 when I cashed these in. I would normally have expected to receive the pension income from 65, but could probably have accessed them from 55? I receive no ongoing benefit from these pensions.

Do I need to declare all 3 above lump sums on form SSA-308, even the fully self-funded FSAVC one for £2.7k?
Do I declare pre-tax or post-tax amounts?
What dates do I put in for from (MM/YYYY) through (MM/YYYY)? Is it the dates I worked at these companies?

Many thanks for any help/advice.

All 3 pensions should be declared. Each one on a separate form. For the FSAVC pension you should complete Section 5 regarding voluntary contributions and that should be the same data that you enter for Section 3 and 4. That will knock the FSAVC out of the WEP calculation because you are stating that the contributions were voluntary (which they were) and therefore won’t be subject to WEP.

You should declare the pre tax amounts, basically whatever each policy paid out.

The dates in Section 3 and 4 should be the dates that you were contributing to the company pension scheme. For the company pension scheme Section 5 is not applicable, for the FSAVC that would be the same dates as Sections 3 and 4. For Section 6 I would enter N/A - Lump Sum Only. For Section 8 the first date would be the date that you would normally have received the pension as specified by the plan documents if you had not taken a lump sum, normally age 65, sometimes age 60 if female. That second category should be “lifetime” assuming the plan would have paid out until your death. They will use those dates to determine what the equivalent monthly payment would have been (using their own formula) and WEP on that amount.

Thanks so much for your help!

I have recently applied online for my SS and have 2 UK private pensions from employment plus my UK State Pension (OAP). I sent in 3 forms SSA-308, one for each pension, and for the OAP I printed out and attached my NI contribution record from my HMRC/DWP account which clearly shows which years were for from paid work and which were from Voluntary Contributions. I think you will also be required to complete a form SSA-308 for OAP if have enough NI contributions to qualify and I'm guessing that you do. When my wife applied for her SS she received it in full up to the point of OAP starting at which point her SS payments were reduced by WEP.

My application is showing that it is now waiting on review by the Federal Benefits Unit in London and I think that will be case for all applicants that have worked and have pensions in the UK. Unfortunately the FBU is woefully behind processing SS applications, quite different from 2021 when my wife applied and was processed through the FBU in London. (We are both dual citizens living in England). I had initially applied through the FBU in early September but after 2 months and no acknowledgement I decided to apply online which worked great u to the FBU involvement.

Thanks for the reply! I do qualify for full UK OAP from March 2029 onwards (Age 67).

I have just applied "online" using the following link:-
Send an Email to the Federal Benefits Unit London
Is that the same "online" as yourselves?

Good luck, I “applied” by that same email method in September and have heard nothing back. This is the method my wife used in 2021 and had a phone call with interview 6 weeks later.

Since I never heard back from my email I applied online using my SSA account. If you don’t have an SSA account I suggest you create one.

https://secure.ssa.gov/RIL/SiView.action

Luckily I do have one. Does this go to FBU in London or to somewhere in the USA?

When my wife applied through the FBU they processed the SSA-308 and created an application that we were able to track online through my wife’s SSA account where the status was waiting on approval by SSA in the USA.

This time it is in reverse, SSA created the application and the status is now “a representative in London, England started reviewing your application on November 12th, 2024”

I just applied through that link and it's now asking me to send my birth certificate. However, I don't know where to send it? Do I send it to FBU London with the confirmation number given to me by the application, or my social security number? Or I could just wait for them to phone me or mail me?

Did your wife apply through the link you provided or on the London FBU site?

She applied through the FBU. They required her to prove citizenship and naturalization so had to send her documents to the FBU in the London US Embassy. I took the opportunity at that time to do the same and also get myself on record as being a naturalized US citizen and I’m so pleased to have done so as this time around I have not been asked to provide any documentation.

In your case I honestly don’t know where to send your birth certificate but I would have thought it would be to the US SSA since it is they who are currently processing your claim. Which office in the USA I don’t know.

When my wife’s application was approved by the FBU it moved onto the Maryland office so I think that is where I would sent a certified copy of your birth certificate.

You can mail documents for Social Security to the Social Security Administration's Office of Earnings & International Operations (OEIO) at the following address:

• Social Security Administration
• Office of Earnings & International Operations
• P.O. Box 17775
• Baltimore Maryland 21235-7775

You could also maybe download a pdf copy.

https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-10087

After selecting the link, you will be prompted to authenticate by using existing or creating new login credentials (e.g. username and password). Within Upload Documents, you will find the documentation requested by the Social Security representative and will be prompted to download, complete, save, and upload the forms or evidence. The submitted documents will then be routed directly to the Social Security representative for processing. You will receive a confirmation email or text message upon successful submission.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll wait and see if SSA in the US contacts me. My application shows up as being submitted on Dec 9, 2024. When I looked for help during the application process, the contact point was the FBU office in London. I may also try phoning the FBU in London and ask for their advice.

AFAIK they are closed on Monday - see opening hours below.

You may already know this, but to call FBU, there are two numbers you can try.

020 7891 3926 then press 1
020 7499 9000 then xt 23926 then Press 1

If I recall correctly, you can call either number, and then as soon as the recorded message kicks in, press either 1 (first number) or press 23926, wait until you are put through and then press 1 (second number).

Their (supposed) open hours have been reduced to Tuesday and Wednesday 930am to 1pm. They are also closed on various training days, all UK bank holidays and all US public holidays.

Good luck. Please post back with progress.

Been trying on phone - got through, but then got message saying fbu is not available right now for phone calls even though it's Tuesday between 9:30 am and 1pm. Tried several times - same outcome.

When I did the online application via my SSA account, there were lots of countries to choose from for your address. This leads me to believe that they may have in place a means of forwarding foreign applications to the relevant embassies?? So, if I were from France, it would be forwarded to Paris embassy etc. Otherwise, I don't know how they could manage this.

How long did it take for the status of your application to change to "a representative in London, England started reviewing your application on November 12th, 2024”, and did you contact any other body after applying through your SSA account?

Did you put in a UK address on the SSA application?

If I wasn't supposed to apply thru the SSA account, I would have been prevented from submitting the application. I think I did the right thing - probably just have to wait. It does say on my SSA account "Thank you for submitting your application. An SSA representative will review it and contact you if we have any questions. We may request additional documents from you before we can process your application". I might send FBU in London my birth certificate with my social security number, name, address, dob etc on a note inside the latter. Does that sound reasonable?

Thanks again so much for your help in this.

Yes, I did put my UK address and phone number on the application. I think it only took a couple of weeks for the status to change to show it is waiting on agents in London. Without being asked to I sent my SSA-308 forms to the FBU in London with a cover letter so I think in your situation I would send in the requested birth certificate along with your SSN and UK address details. Maybe wait until you see your claim is in progress and print out a screenshot to send in along with your documents.

here is a screenshot showing the status of my claim.

Sounds good to me. I might wait until FBU or SSA gets in touch as they may have their own in-house system and claim number that could be assigned to my application.