WEP and GPO Repeal: What the Social Security Fairness Act Changed

The WEP and GPO repeal is law. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, ended the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), two rules that cut Social Security for people with a pension from work that did not pay Social Security tax (Public Law 118-273). The repeal covers benefits payable for January 2024 and later. SSA says the two rules had reduced or wiped out the benefits of over 2.8 million people, and that by July 7, 2025 it had sent over 3.1 million back payments totaling $17 billion (SSA’s Fairness Act page).

What did the Social Security Fairness Act change?

It struck both rules out of the Social Security Act. The law has four short sections (Public Law 118-273):

• Section 1 names it the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023.
• Section 2 repeals the Government Pension Offset.
• Section 3 repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision.
• Section 4 applies both changes to benefits payable for months after December 2023, and tells SSA to adjust primary insurance amounts (the benefit at full retirement age) as the WEP repeal requires.

The bill was H.R. 82. The House passed it on November 12, 2024 and the Senate on December 20, 2024, and it was approved on January 5, 2025, according to the legislative history printed with the law (Public Law 118-273). Nothing else in Social Security changed: not the benefit formula for anyone else, not full retirement age, not the earnings limit.

The line the Fairness Act reopened

20242025NowThe repeal reaches back to hereBack payments for these monthsService reducedWEPYour own retirement or disability benefitService reducedGPOA spouse’s or survivor’s benefit

Back6 of 6Start again

1. Until December 2023Two rules cut Social SecurityThe Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) cut a worker’s own retirement or disability benefit: under WEP, the 90% in the formula could drop to as little as 40% for people who first became eligible in 1990 or later (20 CFR 404.213). The Government Pension Offset (GPO) cut a spouse’s or survivor’s benefit by two-thirds of a government pension from work not covered by Social Security, to zero if need be (20 CFR 404.408a(d)). SSA says the two rules had reduced or wiped out the benefits of over 2.8 million people (SSA).
2. November 12, 2024The House passes H.R. 82The House passes H.R. 82 on November 12, 2024, according to the legislative history printed with the law (Public Law 118-273). The boards stay up.
3. December 20, 2024The Senate passes itThe Senate passes it on December 20, 2024, according to the same legislative history (Public Law 118-273). Nothing has changed in anyone’s check yet.
4. January 5, 2025Signed: the line reopens back to January 2024The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, applies both repeals to benefits payable for months after December 2023 (Public Law 118-273, section 4): with benefits payable for January 2024, a year before the law was signed. SSA says December 2023 was the last month WEP and GPO applied (SSA).
5. By July 7, 2025Over 3.1 million back payments, $17 billionSSA owed each person the difference for every month back to January 2024. By July 7, 2025, it had sent over 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion, according to its Fairness Act page, last updated July 21, 2025 (SSA).
6. NowOne formula for everyoneToday everyone’s full amount comes from the normal formula. If you never applied because of WEP or GPO, apply now: SSA says back payments on a new application are generally limited to six months before the month you apply (SSA).

Who was affected by WEP and GPO?

People with a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security, meaning work on which they paid no Social Security tax. SSA counted over 2.8 million people whose benefits the two rules reduced or wiped out (SSA). For GPO, the pension had to come from federal, state or local government work outside Social Security, and a government job that paid only Medicare tax counted as outside it (20 CFR 404.408a(a)). WEP also counted a pension from work in another country that was not covered by US Social Security (20 CFR 404.213(a)).

The two rules hit different benefits. WEP cut a person’s own retirement or disability benefit. GPO cut a benefit paid as a husband, wife, widow or widower. Someone with a pension and some years of covered work could be hit by both.

What did WEP do?

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is the rule that cut the Social Security of workers who also had a pension from work that did not pay Social Security tax. It changed the formula for a worker’s full amount. The normal formula pays 90% of average indexed monthly earnings up to a first bend point, 32% up to a second and 15% above it. Under WEP, the 90% could drop to as little as 40% for people who first became eligible in 1990 or later (20 CFR 404.213):

• With 30 or more years of coverage, as the regulation counts them, WEP did not apply.
• With 21 to 29 years, the first percentage was 45% to 85%, 5 points more for each year.
• The cut was never more than half of the part of the pension earned in work not covered by Social Security.

WEP applied to retirement and disability benefits for people who first became eligible after 1985 and also had such a pension. Some pensions did not count: railroad retirement and, from 1995, a foreign benefit paid under a totalization agreement or a pension based only on service in the uniformed services (20 CFR 404.213(e)).

For someone who turns 62 in 2027, the first bend point is $1,340 (SSA). At 40% instead of 90%, the old rule could have taken up to half of that off the full amount each month. Today everyone’s full amount comes from the normal formula. Drag the earnings in the drawing to see its three bands.

What did GPO do?

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) is the rule that cut a spouse’s or survivor’s benefit for people with a pension from such work: by two-thirds of a government pension from work not covered by Social Security, to zero if need be (20 CFR 404.408a(d)). It applied to benefits paid as a husband, wife, widow, widower, mother, father, divorced spouse or surviving divorced spouse.

An example with round numbers: a widow has a $3,000 monthly pension from a job that did not pay Social Security tax, and is due a $1,500 widow’s benefit. Two-thirds of the pension is $2,000, more than the whole benefit, so under GPO she was paid nothing. Without GPO, the $1,500 is payable in full. See survivor benefits and spousal benefits for how those amounts are set.

When did the WEP and GPO repeal take effect?

With benefits payable for January 2024, a year before the law was signed. SSA says December 2023 was the last month WEP and GPO applied (SSA). Social Security pays each month’s benefit in the month after (SSA’s COLA page describes benefits payable for December as received in January), so the first benefit without the cuts was the one for January 2024, paid in February 2024.

How did the retroactive payments work?

SSA owed each person the difference for every month back to January 2024. By July 7, 2025, it had sent over 3.1 million payments totaling $17 billion, according to its Fairness Act page, last updated July 21, 2025 (SSA). What each person got depended on how big the WEP or GPO cut had been, and for how many months.

Back pay is Social Security, so the usual federal tax rules apply to it. If you received in 2025 benefits that were for 2024, IRS Publication 915 lets you figure the taxable part of the 2024 benefits with your 2024 income instead, if that is lower: the lump-sum election (Publication 915). See taxes on Social Security.

What if you never applied because of WEP or GPO?

Apply now, because the repeal cannot pay a claim you have not made. Social Security is paid only after you apply, and SSA says back payments on a new application are generally limited to six months before the month you apply (SSA). Below full retirement age there is usually no back pay at all: a claim that would be cut for age cannot reach back before the month you file (20 CFR 404.621).

This matters most for husbands, wives, widows and widowers whose benefit GPO used to wipe out, and who may never have filed. Each month of waiting can be a month that is not paid.

Who is still not affected?

Anyone whose work all paid Social Security tax, and anyone with no pension from work outside Social Security. That is most public employees: SSA says about 72% of state and local public employees work in jobs covered by Social Security (SSA). WEP and GPO never applied to them, so the repeal changed nothing for them. SSA says only people who get a pension based on work not covered by Social Security may see their benefits rise.

Why do the regulations still describe WEP and GPO?

They have not been rewritten yet. On October 29, 2026, the Code of Federal Regulations still printed the WEP formula (20 CFR 404.213) and the GPO cut (20 CFR 404.408a). The law comes first: for benefits payable for January 2024 and later, Public Law 118-273 applies and those sections do not. Anyone reading the regulations alone would get the wrong answer.

What should you do now?

Only a few cases still need a step from you. For a benefit that was already being paid, the law itself removed the cuts and told SSA to recompute the amounts WEP had lowered (Public Law 118-273, section 4), and SSA reports the 3.1 million payments above. The cases that need you:

1. If you have a pension from work outside Social Security and never applied on your own record or a spouse’s, apply now (see above).
2. If you received back pay in 2025 for 2024, look at the lump-sum election when you file your taxes (Publication 915).
3. If you are still years from claiming, estimate your benefit with the normal formula, the only one that now applies.
4. Check your earnings record at my Social Security, because every estimate starts from it.

How does this site estimate benefits after the repeal?

With the normal formula for everyone, as the law now requires. The estimator asks nothing about pensions, because a pension from work outside Social Security no longer changes the amount. How benefits are calculated walks through the formula step by step. As with every estimate here, the exact figure is the one SSA works out from your record at my Social Security.

Figures checked October 29, 2026.

Questions people ask

When did the WEP and GPO repeal take effect?

For benefits payable for January 2024 and later (SSA). The law was signed on January 5, 2025, and reached back to January 2024.

Who qualifies under the Social Security Fairness Act?

People with a pension from work that did not pay Social Security tax whose Social Security was cut by WEP or GPO, and people who never applied because GPO would have cut a spouse’s or survivor’s benefit to zero. Most public employees paid Social Security tax and were never affected.

Will I get retroactive payments?

If WEP or GPO cut your benefit for any month from January 2024, you were owed the difference for those months. SSA reported over 3.1 million such payments, $17 billion in all, by July 7, 2025 (SSA).

Are the retroactive payments taxable?

They are Social Security benefits, so the usual federal rules apply. The part for an earlier year can be figured with that year’s income under the lump-sum election in IRS Publication 915 (Publication 915).

Does the Social Security Fairness Act raise benefits for everyone?

No. It only helps people with a pension from work not covered by Social Security; for everyone else the formula and the amounts are unchanged (Public Law 118-273).

Updated November 7, 2026