A Railroad retirement board representative advised me that I could receive a reduced age benefit ( if I desire to take it now, at age 63) from my ex-husband's Tier I benefit and continue to receive my divorced spouse annuity granted to me in our divorce, as this is a lifetime annuity for me. He also told me I could take a reduced age benefit now from the USRRRB and discontinue receiving the benefit at say 66 or even 70, to then apply and receive my own social security benefits from there on. My questions are: 1) Is this information correct? May I draw from the railrload's Tier I, stop this at a later age and then draw from my social security? 2) Will my receiving the divorced spouse annuity reduce my social security benefit? 3) Are social security benefits taxable? Thank you for your time and attention to these questions. Sincerely, C. A.

Hi C.A.,

I'm not an expert on Railroad Retirement (RR) benefits, so I can't confirm any information that the RRB representative told you. What I can tell you is that if you qualify for both RR and Social Security (SS), you can't receive both benefit in full at the same time. If you file for both benefits what you could receive is the higher of a) your Social Security benefit rate, or b) your Tier 1 RR benefit rate, plus c) any Tier 2 benefits for which you may qualify.

It is possible to file for just RR benefits without filing for SS benefits, and vice versa. So, for example, you could potentially draw just RR benefits and file for SS benefits later. And, if you wait past your full retirement age (FRA) to start drawing your Social Security retirement benefits, you can accrue delayed retirement credits (https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/delayret.html) even if you're already drawing RR benefits.

If by a divorced spousal annuity you are referring to some type of alimony, that would have no effect on your Social Security benefits. Your SS benefits could be subject to taxes depending on your income level. For more information regarding the taxation of SS benefits, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxes.html.

Best, Jerry