My husband's SS will be reduced due to windfall tax but he talked to a man in a grocery store who said he was exempt from the windfall tax due to having worked/lived in rural areas. Is this possible?

Hi,

No. Where a person works or lives has nothing to do with whether or not they are exempt from the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). That doesn't mean that your husband might not be exempt from WEP for a different reason, though. For more information on the WEP provision and it's exceptions, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.

Best, Jerry