In another head-spinning reversal, SSA has cancelled plans to require identity verification either online or in person for people applying for benefits or changing their direct deposit information. Yesterday the Washington Post reported that SSA would be installing a new fraud detecting tool that flags potentially fraudulent incoming calls to SSA, and that unless a caller is flagged, identity may once again be verified over the phone.

In its continuing DOGE-inspired efforts to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, the Social Security Administration is changing the way it is verifying identity. People who want to file an application for benefits or change their direct-deposit information will now need to verify their identity through their Social Security account using login.gov or ID.me. If they are unable or unwilling to do this, they must visit a local office to have their identity verified in person by an SSA representative, making an appointment in advance by calling 800-772-1213. Please see this newsletter for more on how to open a Social Security account.

The latest news on Elon Musk’s foray into Social Security is his recruitment of Antonio Gracias, a private equity investor, who is digging into the way Social Security is financed. First reported in the New York Times, Gracias was quoted as saying there were “material weaknesses” in the system.

The Times article correctly explains: “The Social Security trust funds grew over decades as Americans paid more taxes into the program than they took out in benefits. Tax revenue submitted to the trust funds did not sit there; the federal government instead used the cash to pay its regular expenses over time. In return, the Treasury gave Social Security special bonds that it could redeem to help pay for the program in the future.”

The Social Security Administration (SSA) today shared its significant progress to quickly implement the Social Security Fairness Act. Through March 4, 2025, SSA has already paid 1,127,723 people more than $7.5 billion in retroactive payments. The retroactive payments are the result of the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The average retroactive payment so far is $6,710.

According to a new press release, SSA “continues to make good on President Trump’s promise to protect American taxpayers from unnecessary spending while continuing to ensure it delivers on its mission.”

The following message was sent to agency employees February 27: “The Social Security Administration (SSA) will soon implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions. Through these massive reorganizations, offices that perform functions not mandated by statute may be prioritized for reduction-in-force actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions, directed reassignments, and reductions in staffing. The agency may reassign employees from non-mission critical positions to mission critical direct service positions (e.g., field offices, teleservice centers, processing centers). Reassignments may be involuntary and may require retraining for new workloads.”

Actions Support the Social Security Fairness Act

Today, the Social Security Administration announced it is immediately beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will increase monthly benefit payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). These provisions reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits for over 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a “non-covered pension”) because they did not pay Social Security taxes. The Social Security Fairness Act ends WEP and GPO.

“Social Security’s aggressive schedule to start issuing retroactive payments in February and increase monthly benefit payments beginning in April supports President Trump’s priority to implement the Social Security Fairness Act as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “The agency’s original estimate of taking a year or more now will only apply to complex cases that cannot be processed by automation. The American people deserve to get their due benefits as quickly as possible.”

Following the sudden resignation of Michelle King on February 16 due to a clash with Elon Musk and his DOGE team over access to Social Security’s extensive database of personal information including Social Security numbers, bank account information and, in the case of disability beneficiaries, medical records, Leland Dudek was appointed new Acting Commissioner. Dudek, who was a manager in charge of Social Security’s anti-fraud office, will serve while Trump’s nominee for Commissioner, Frank Bisignano, is being vetted by the Senate.

In a statement Dudek promised openness, transparency, and accountability. He is supportive of DOGE’s efforts to identify fraud, waste.

SSA maintains a webpage on the Social Security Fairness Act, which it updates periodically. The latest update was January 24. Here are some of the highlights.

Not every teacher, firefighter, police officer or other public employee who worked in a noncovered job will be affected by the law. The ones who are affected fall into two categories. 1) Those who also worked in Social Security-covered jobs and whose Social Security benefits have been (or would have been) reduced for the WEP. The removal of the WEP under the new law will cause their Social Security benefit to increase. If they never worked in a covered job and therefore never qualified for Social Security on their own work record, this part of the law will not apply to them. 2) Those who are (or were) married and entitled to spousal or survivor benefits. Previously, their spousal or survivor benefit would have been reduced by two-thirds of their pension amount under the GPO. The new law nullifies this reduction and allows full spousal or survivor benefits to be paid to people who worked in noncovered jobs. A person whose current or prior marital status would not entitle them to a spousal or survivor benefit anyway would not be affected by this part of the new law.

On January 5 President Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act eliminating the WEP and GPO for clients who worked in jobs not covered by Social Security. The passage and signing of the Act was a feel-good moment for politicians, who hailed it as a way for everyone to get their “fair share” and be able to “retire with economic security and dignity,” even if there was a certain amount of misrepresentation in the media implying that the workers who had been subject to the WEP had paid into the system their entire careers. This, as we know, is not true. A person who paid into Social Security for 30 years or more was never subject to the WEP. It was only those who had worked in noncovered jobs that DIDN’T pay into Social Security whose benefits based on other, covered earnings were reduced. In any case, the time for debate is over. The WEP and GPO have been repealed, and now it’s time to get the word out to affected clients.

In one of its last acts of the year, the Senate passed the Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminates the WEP and GPO for people who worked in noncovered jobs. The bill now goes to President Biden for his signature.

As you know, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) applies to people who worked in a job that did not pay into Social Security and who expect to receive a pension from that job, while also working long enough in a Social Security-covered job (10 years) to receive a Social Security benefit based on that work. The WEP reduces the first bend point in the PIA formula from .90 to .40, essentially reducing their Social Security benefit by about $600. Alerting clients to the WEP has been a big part of Savvy Social Security planning, as the WEP reduction is not reflected on clients’ Social Security statement. Without this knowledge, clients would expect their benefit to be as much as $600 more than what they’ll end up receiving.

President-Elect Donald Trump promised not to cut Social Security. During his campaign he even suggested higher-income beneficiaries would be able to keep more of their Social Security income through his proposal to stop taxation of benefits (apparently not considering that eliminating that source of income would cause the Trust Fund to exhaust three years sooner than currently projected). Project 2025, which Trump has distanced himself from but is widely recognized to inform many of his policies, makes no mention of Social Security.

But there is one aspect of Social Security that may be affected by the new Trump administration, and that’s the overall administration of the agency. Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has the Social Security Administration in its sights, even though SSA is one of the most efficient of all government agencies. According to recent testimony by SSA commissioner Martin O’Malley, productivity was up 6.2% in 2024 even as the number of new beneficiaries has been soaring. SSA’s staffing is at a 50-year low. SSA made great strides under O’Malley, reducing average call wait times from 42 minutes to 12 minutes, streamlining procedures for overpayments and underpayments, and reducing wait times for disability approvals.

On November 12 the House passed H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, which calls for an end to the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. The vote was decisive, 327-75. It faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, it would eliminate both the WEP and GPO for clients who worked in noncovered jobs. According to an actuarial analysis done in July 2022, it would worsen Social Security’s finances and cause the trust fund to exhaust in 2034, one year sooner than current projections.

Social Security checks will be going up by 2.5% in 2025. The increase will take effect in December and be reflected in January checks. Clients will receive their personalized COLA notice by mail in December, or earlier in their online account if they sign up for text or email alerts.

The Social Security wage base will be going up to $176,100, from the current $168,600. This increase is based on the rise in the national average wage index, which rose by 4.43%. The earnings test threshold will be $23,400 ($1,950 per month), up from $22,320 ($1,860 per month). The FRA-year threshold will be $62,160 ($5,180 per month, up from $59,520 ($4,960 per month).

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced progress this year to reduce customer burden by transitioning wet (physical) signature requirements to digital signatures for over 30 forms as well as removing the signature requirements altogether for 13 forms. These actions simplify application processes for people, including removing a potential reason for claims to be sent back or denied.

The Social Security Administration is transitioning to a new login system starting in September. Everyone who set up their Social Security accounts before September 2021 will need to log in with their username and password and follow the prompts to switch to a Login.gov account. The agency is making the changes to simplify the sign-in experience and align with federal authentication standards while providing safe and secure access to online services. People who already have a Login.gov account do not need to take any action.

After years of development and months of testing, our new integrated software is now live on this site. Just click on the “Software” tab above.

Key enhancements to the Savvy Social Security Planning software include:

• Integration of the primary calculators, including Spousal Planning, Divorce Planning, Survivor Planning, and WEP/GPO Planning, into a single unified application
• Ability to model complex cases involving dependent benefits
• Greater ease in modeling scenarios for multiple life spans and COLA combinations
• Expanded support for modeling WEP/GPO in all types of client situations
• More control over “Suggested Scenarios”
• Increased capabilities for customizing client reports
• Educational tips integrated throughout the tool
• Improved performance and speed

In its latest blog post SSA says appointments with representatives can now be done online using Microsoft Teams.

To set up an appointment clients would call the main number, (800) 772-1213, and ask for a video appointment. If the representative determines that a video appointment would be an appropriate option, they will set up the appointment. If not, they will conduct the interview over the phone or schedule a regular in-office appointment.

The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the financial status of the health of the Social Security Trust Funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are projected to have enough dedicated revenue to pay all scheduled benefits and associated administrative costs until 2035, one year later than projected last year, with 83% of benefits payable at that time.

In the 2024 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:

The Social Security Administration has announced it will decrease the default overpayment withholding rate for Social Security beneficiaries to ten percent (or $10, whichever is greater) from 100 percent, significantly reducing financial hardship on people with overpayments.

The change applies to new overpayments. If beneficiaries already have an overpayment with a withholding rate greater than ten percent and would like a lower recovery rate, they should call Social Security at (800) 772-1213 or their local Social Security office to speak with a representative. If a beneficiary requests a rate lower than ten percent, a representative will approve the request if it allows recovery of the overpayment within 60 months—a recent increase to improve how the agency serves its customers from the previous policy of only 36 months. If the beneficiary’s proposed rate would extend recovery of the overpayment beyond 60 months, the Social Security representative will gather income, resource, and expense information from the beneficiary to make a determination.