I worked in Canada for 14 years and receive a CPP pension; and, I've worked in the US and receive max SS pension available since did not apply for US SS until I turned 70 yrs. (NB: I'm a US citizen & Canadian Landed Immigrant.)
In computing my US social security benefits (for state of Minnesota), my CPP pension amount is deducted from my available US SS benefits; which doesn't seem fair, since I paid taxes (when working in both the US & Canada). Is there any way to not have my Canadian CPP benefits deduced from my available US SS benefits (Windfall application)?
In advance, thanks for any clarification on this question.
Hi,
I don't have enough information to be able to give you a definitive answer. Unless you meet one of the exceptions to WEP, though, your CPP pension would cause your U.S. Social Security retirement benefits to be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). Receipt of any pension based on your earnings that were exempt from U.S. Social Security taxes can cause WEP to apply, so your CPP pension would fall under that definition.
WEP causes your U.S. retirement benefits to be calculated using an alternate, less generous, computation formula than the formula that's normally used. The amount of reduction caused by WEP can't exceed 50% of the amount of the person's non-covered pension (e.g. CPP), however.
For more information about WEP and it's exceptions, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.
Best, Jerry