Ask Larry

Will the WEP Affect My Disability Benefit?

Hi. I have a couple of questions that I hope you can help me with.

1) I have received disability benefits for the past several years and I'm in my 50's. Someone recently mentioned something about WEP. So, I went online to the social security site and boy I got confused. At first it looks like it applies to folks who are receiving pensions from places where they didn't pay into SS but also worked some of their career paying into SS; but then, it says something about WEP applies if you have not had 30 or more years of substantial earnings under Social Security, and also something about if you became disabled after 1985. So, I'm confused. I have not worked 30 years paying into Social Security, so will my current disability payments be reduced when I hit my retirement age at 67?

2) And, if my benefits will just stay the same, can I contact social security before my 67 bday and suspend my then social security benefits until age 70 so I get the 8% a year (for 3 years) additional benefit?

Thank you so much for your kind help.

Sue,
The WEP will not affect you since you didn't earn a pension by working for the government. See: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf.
Your disability benefit will convert to a regular retirement benefit of the same amount at your full retirement age, and yes, you can suspend it and earn delayed retirement credits at the rate of 8% per year.
Best,
Mike

Posted: 
Jul 12 2016 - 9:15pm
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