Getting rid of WEP and GPO?

Teacher Terry said:
It’s official with the biggest group that worked on this being invited by the White House for the signing on Monday!!! I’m beyond excited. I will no longer be on a tight budget.
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Congratulations on you retirement "raise." Enjoy!
 
I wonder how long it will take for the changes to take effect in their systems? Opensocialsecurity.com suggests that we should file for my spouse ASAP.

Any insights or anyone care to speculate? TIA
 
We have been trying not to count our chickens before they are hatched. Once the bill is signed, we will be popping the cork...ummm...unscrewing the cap, on our best wine. LMAO.

The exact impact of the repeal varies person to person, but for some, it is absolutely huge. My spouse is amongst the population most screwed by WEP/GPO. Their standard SS will be 60% higher when they file, and depending on when I file, they may be better off with a spousal benefit on my record, which would make their SS more than 60% higher. But the *real* improvement is that they can get my full survivor benefit, should I die before they do, which could end up being in the neighborhood of $2000/mo higher without GPO. I'm not kidding. That is how terrible WEP/GPO were for my spouse. It is a huge relief, and it changes everything from when we take SS to how we handle our estate.

Maybe we can buy corked wine?
 
LRDave said:
I wonder how long it will take for the changes to take effect in their systems? Opensocialsecurity.com suggests that we should file for my spouse ASAP.

Any insights or anyone care to speculate? TIA
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We will file spousal benefits on-line on Monday evening. Don't know how long it will take, but we might as well get started.
 
DH -- federal civil service -- CSRS -- small SSA benefit on his own account . federal pension currently subject to both WEP and GPO.


i couldn't get him phone appointment and he cannot file for his spousal benefit on line, because he is currently collecting. attempting an on line applicaation resulted in call for an appointment message. Due to GPO being repealed he now qualify ( or will shortly qualify when the pres signs ) for spousal benefits. I was considering filling out the paper form for spousal benefits for DH and mailing it in. anyone know if this will work? He has been retired a long time 14 years, i am pretty sure spousal will require another application , WEP change will be automatic.
 

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rothlev said:
DH -- federal civil service -- CSRS -- small SSA benefit on his own account . federal pension currently subject to both WEP and GPO.

i couldn't get him phone appointment and he cannot file for his spousal benefit on line, because he is currently collecting. attempting an on line applicaation resulted in call for an appointment message. Due to GPO being repealed he now qualify ( or will shortly qualify when the pres signs ) for spousal benefits.
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A family member is a Massachusetts state retiree subject to the GPO as a survivor and received this advice from their union.
At this time, there is nothing you can or should do. We advise that you sit tight and await instruction from the Social Security Administration. As soon as we learn more, we will update Mass Retirees members.

What we can tell you with certainty is that HR82 simply repeals the WEP and GPO laws. The bill does not change Social Security eligibility, the benefit formula, FICA payroll withholdings, or trigger mandatory Social Security enrollment for current or future public employees. If you are not now eligible nothing changes due to this bill becoming law. All that will change is that come Monday, the WEP and GPO offset laws will no longer exist for current or future retirees.
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rothlev said:
DH -- federal civil service -- CSRS -- small SSA benefit on his own account . federal pension currently subject to both WEP and GPO.


i couldn't get him phone appointment and he cannot file for his spousal benefit on line, because he is currently collecting. attempting an on line applicaation resulted in call for an appointment message. Due to GPO being repealed he now qualify ( or will shortly qualify when the pres signs ) for spousal benefits. I was considering filling out the paper form for spousal benefits for DH and mailing it in. anyone know if this will work? He has been retired a long time 14 years, i am pretty sure spousal will require another application , WEP change will be automatic.
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A person can submit a paper SSA-2 to a social security office. I personally would want to make sure it is date stamped upon receipt, to make sure it is official and is a legitimate protective date, which means I would take the form in myself to the office, but then if I was going to do that, I could get an appointment when going in. However, some people don't live close to an office, so mailing in a form could work, but I would definitely want that date stamped receipt returned.
 
flyoverstate said:
We have been trying not to count our chickens before they are hatched. Once the bill is signed, we will be popping the cork...ummm...unscrewing the cap, on our best wine. LMAO.

The exact impact of the repeal varies person to person, but for some, it is absolutely huge. My spouse is amongst the population most screwed by WEP/GPO. Their standard SS will be 60% higher when they file, and depending on when I file, they may be better off with a spousal benefit on my record, which would make their SS more than 60% higher. But the *real* improvement is that they can get my full survivor benefit, should I die before they do, which could end up being in the neighborhood of $2000/mo higher without GPO. I'm not kidding. That is how terrible WEP/GPO were for my spouse. It is a huge relief, and it changes everything from when we take SS to how we handle our estate.

Maybe we can buy corked wine?
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Ditto.

Was planning to take SS at 62, given DW would get no survivor nor spousal benefits due to WEP/GPO. Also impacted my thoughts on Roth conversion strategy, as I may push SS later and spread out Roth conversions longer.

My bottle of champagne is in the fridge now… the extra $20k/yr not planned for can buy lots of Cristal or Dom! 🍾🥳
 
Well I submitted my application early. Hopefully that won’t have any negative effects. I just picture a huge backlog when the bill is signed.
 
I just saw the National WEP and GPO group also said Sunday as others have mentioned. Much better to have it a day sooner!!

Thanks to the person that gave the paper form number for those of us who are retired and can’t apply for spousal online because we are already receiving benefits. I printed it and filled it out just waiting to date it one day past the bill signing.
 

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Sounds like the signing was changed to Sunday simply because President Biden is traveling to New Orleans on Monday now.
 
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I just checked the status of my application which I submitted in October and not much progress. Now with this change I expect there will be even greater delays.

Typically it takes 30 days for a decision. This timeframe is an estimate for reference.

We started step 2 of 3 of the review process for your application on November 12, 2024.

A representative in LONDON ENGLAND is reviewing the information you submitted to make sure that you meet the basic requirements for Retirement Benefits. A Social Security Representative may contact you directly if we need any additional documents or information to help determine if you are eligible.

Please respond timely to any requests from SSA
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I expect it to take longer than usual since there will be a huge number of applications submitted. That is why I submitted my application so early.
 
I would imagine this is going to be a huge job for SS staff and things will take time. I’m fine with that since I know I’ll eventually get the money.
 
Two questions along this same line. First, will the SS web site actually let us apply for spousal benefits come Monday even though the web site probably won't have been updated that fast to reflex the new changes? And secondly, if these spousal benefit applications take 6 months or longer do we get retroactive pay back to the first day we submitted? It just seems that for many older applicants, many might literally pass away before seeing anything. And if these online applications require a followup phone appointment we're talking maybe a year or longer. Just seems like a nightmare, even more so than how the SS office operates right now.
 
Drake3287 said:
Two questions along this same line. First, will the SS web site actually let us apply for spousal benefits come Monday even though the web site probably won't have been updated that fast to reflex the new changes? And secondly, if these spousal benefit applications take 6 months or longer do we get retroactive pay back to the first day we submitted? It just seems that for many older applicants, many might literally pass away before seeing anything. And if these online applications require a followup phone appointment we're talking maybe a year or longer. Just seems like a nightmare, even more so than how the SS office operates right now.
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good questions. when I called in i got no answers except the canned message that SSA posted for their staff.
 
Drake3287 said:
Two questions along this same line. First, will the SS web site actually let us apply for spousal benefits come Monday even though the web site probably won't have been updated that fast to reflex the new changes? And secondly, if these spousal benefit applications take 6 months or longer do we get retroactive pay back to the first day we submitted? It just seems that for many older applicants, many might literally pass away before seeing anything. And if these online applications require a followup phone appointment we're talking maybe a year or longer. Just seems like a nightmare, even more so than how the SS office operates right now.
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Remember, there are different situations. Two common ones:

1) A person who is currently getting some social security on their own record but which is offset by their govt pension. From what I have read so far, these do not need to do anything at this point? This may be because soc sec might do an adjustment to stop counting the pension as of a certain point--maybe up to a year retroactive or whenever the new law was effective? This would then generate the appropriate payments?

2) A person never filed for spousal benefits because they knew their pension would disallow any soc sec benefit off their spouse. A person can at this point file online for spousal benefits. The system is allowing that even before the final bill signing. In addition, one has the choice to request retroactive benefits up to 6 months if they are far enough past their full retirement age.

Also, there will be other situations such as filing on a divorced spouse, etc.

I have heard that in some cases due to previous filing situations, the person gets a notice that they cannot file online. These apparently require an appointment.

It is not clear at this point how long it could take for the adjustment by soc sec for the example in #1. However, for those in situation #2, since this is (usually) a new application and SSA has processing time goals which they like to meet, I would think these will be processed as quickly as possible once the bill is signed into law--as in within weeks for as many as possible?
 
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zl55lz said:
Remember, there are different situations. Two common ones:

1) A person who is currently getting some social security on their own record but which is offset by their govt pension. From what I have read so far, these do not need to do anything at this point? This may be because soc sec might do an adjustment to stop counting the pension as of a certain point--maybe up to a year? This would then generate the appropriate payments?

2) A person never filed for spousal benefits because they knew their pension would disallow any soc sec benefit off their spouse. A person can at this point file online for spousal benefits. The system is allowing that even before the final bill signing. In addition, one has the choice to request retroactive benefits up to 6 months if they are far enough past their full retirement age.

Also, there will be other situations such as filing on a divorced spouse, etc.

I have heard that in some cases due to previous filing situations, the person gets a notice that they cannot file online. These apparently require an appointment.

It is not clear at this point how long it could take for the adjustment by soc sec for the example in #1. However, for those in situation #2, since this is (usually) a new application and SSA has processing time goals which they like to meet, I would think these will be processed as quickly as possible once the bill is signed into law--as in within weeks for as many as possible?
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the third situation is a person currently collecting some social security on their own account, but who now qualifies for spousal benefits (GPO repeal ) which will be higher than theirs under WEP repeal. This is the situation that appears to be being kicked out by the on line system.
 
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