Back benefits will begin arriving this week for many of the 2.1 million retirees and 770,000 spouses and surviving spouses entitled to payments as a result of the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, the Social Security Administration announced. Increased monthly payments will start in April, reflecting higher March benefits.
The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January, eliminated the decades-old Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which limited or in some cases eliminated the Social Security benefits that could be received by taxpayers who were also receiving pensions. As a result of the Act, beneficiaries will now receive back pay for 2024 and will see higher payments going forward.
Beneficiaries should be aware that they may receive the retroactive payment before receiving the mailed notice from the SSA about the payment. Those impacted by the WEP and GPO may receive up to two mailed notices: one when WEP or GPO is removed from their record, and the other when the monthly benefit amount is adjusted to reflect their new higher monthly payment amount.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more – straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice – straight to your e-mail.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) had previously said it could take up to a year to process the retroactive payments due to people that collected benefits in 2024 and monthly increases to 2025 benefits checks. Now, the SSA has said that back benefits will begin arriving this week and monthly increases will take effect a bit later.
Automation and complex cases
The SSA says that they “have been able to expedite payments due to the use of automation.” This also means that complex cases will take longer to process. These cases will require additional time to manually update the records and pay both retroactive benefits and the new benefits amount.
The SSA urges beneficiaries to be patient and not contact the SSA until April. These cases will be processed incrementally throughout the month of March.
Payment of retroactive benefits
If you were collecting Social Security benefits in 2024 that were reduced by the WEP or GPO, you will start receiving your retroactive payments beginning the week of February 24.
By the end of March, you will receive a one-time retroactive payment, deposited into the bank account the SSA has on file. This retroactive payment will cover the increase in your benefit amount back to January 2024, the month when WEP and GPO no longer apply.
New higher monthly benefit amount
If your 2025 monthly benefits were reduced by the WEP or GPO, you are eligible for this upward adjustment. Social Security benefits are paid one month behind. According to the SSA, most affected beneficiaries will begin receiving their new monthly benefit amount for March 2025 in April 2025.
Again, beneficiaries are asked to hold off on contacting the SSA. They request that you wait until after you receive your April payment (for March benefits) before contacting SSA to ask about the new monthly benefit amount, as the new amount will not be reflected until April.