{
  "id": "R45845",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R45845",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 603060,
      "date": "2019-07-30",
      "retrieved": "2019-08-12T22:13:03.713722",
      "title": "Social Security: Beneficiaries Affected by Both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO)",
      "summary": "The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) are two separate provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for workers and/or and their eligible family members if the worker receives (or is entitled to) a pension based on employment not covered by Social Security. Certain beneficiaries may be subject to both the WEP and the GPO if they are dually entitled to Social Security retirement and spousal (or survivors\u2019) benefits and also receive a noncovered government pension. As of December 2018, 263,775 Social Security beneficiaries were affected by both the WEP and the GPO. They accounted for 38% of spouses and survivors affected by the GPO and 14% of beneficiaries affected by the WEP. \nThe provisions\u2019 benefit offsets create complications in calculating and administering Social Security benefits. Overpayments to dually entitled Social Security beneficiaries affected by both the WEP and the GPO have been an issue for the Social Security Administration (SSA) since the WEP was enacted in 1983. In January 2013, SSA\u2019s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) estimated that SSA has overpaid approximately $349.5 million to 10,546 dually entitled beneficiaries who were identified among those in current-payment status and whose WEP reduction was not applied properly and $320.6 million to 10,122 dually entitled beneficiaries in current-payment status whose GPO offset was not imposed correctly. OIG\u2019s estimates further indicated that SSA overpaid those beneficiaries an additional $231.9 million from 2013 to 2017, and that SSA may continue overpaying them approximately $46.4 million annually if no corrective action is taken. \nOther studies show that beneficiaries who were subject to both the WEP and the GPO tended to have lower average Social Security benefits and household wealth than those affected by only the WEP or the GPO. In addition, some state and local government employees might become dually entitled and subject to both provisions through an extension of Social Security coverage under a Section 218 Agreement.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45845",
          "sha1": "f2ab3756437b2b8422ce5c8574c28c3f4b864251",
          "filename": "files/20190730_R45845_f2ab3756437b2b8422ce5c8574c28c3f4b864251.html",
          "images": {}
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45845",
          "sha1": "649064fa27fc37acb8341e53c61d6987add2b0a1",
          "filename": "files/20190730_R45845_649064fa27fc37acb8341e53c61d6987add2b0a1.pdf",
          "images": {}
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4796,
          "name": "Social Security"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy"
  ]
}