March 2025
Social Security Fairness Act
We recently announced that we are 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.
People who will benefit from the new law include some teachers, firefighters, and police officers in many states; federal employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System; and people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.
Many beneficiaries will be due a retroactive payment because the WEP and GPO offset no longer apply as of January 2024. Most people will receive their one-time retroactive payment by the end of March, which will be deposited into their bank account on record with Social Security.
Social Security urges beneficiaries to wait until April to ask about the status of their retroactive payment, since these payments will process incrementally into March. Since the new monthly payment amount will begin with the April payment, beneficiaries should wait until after receiving their April payment, before contacting Social Security with questions about their monthly benefit amount.
Visit the agency’s Social Security Fairness Act webpage at https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html to learn more and stay up to date on its progress.
Celebrate National “Slam the Scam” Day with Social Security
Thursday, March 6 is National “Slam the Scam” Day.
“Slam the Scam" raises public awareness about government imposter scams that continue to spread across the United States. This annual event is part of National Consumer Protection Week, March 2–9.
Please encourage your clients to visit our Protect Yourself from Scams webpage at www.ssa.gov/scam for more information about National “Slam the Scam” Day and Social Security-related scams. Your clients can report potential scams to the Office of the Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov.
We hope you will help us “Slam the Scam” on March 6! Please share this information with your clients.
Visit Our Newly Redesigned Representing Claimants Webpage!
We are excited to announce the launch of our newly designed Representing Claimants webpage at www.ssa.gov/representation. The redesigned webpage consolidates information and services for representatives into one convenient location.
Please share this information with your clients.
Your Clients Can Get a Replacement Social Security Benefit Statement Online
Tax season is here, and we’ve made it easier for your clients to get a replacement Benefit Statement online. There’s no need to wait on the phone or make an appointment to visit a Social Security office.
The Social Security Benefit Statement is also known as the SSA-1099 or the SSA-1042S. It is a tax form we mail to your clients every January if they receive Social Security benefits. It shows the total amount of benefits they received in the previous year, so they know how much Social Security income to report to the IRS on their tax return.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments aren’t taxed. If SSI is the only payment your clients receive from us, we won’t send them a Benefit Statement.
If your clients misplaced or didn’t receive their SSA-1099/SSA-1042S in January, they can get a replacement online by signing in to their personal my Social Security account. If they don’t have an account, they can create one at www.ssa.gov/myaccount.
A replacement for the most recent tax year became available February 1.
To learn more, visit our blog article, Get Your Social Security Benefit Statement (SSA-1099) at blog.ssa.gov/get-your-social-security-benefit-statement-ssa-1099-3.
Please share this information with your clients.
Representative Call Center (RCC) Services
We recently expanded services provided by the Representative Call Center (RCC) to better support representatives. The RCC serves as a dedicated phone line for representatives to address claimant payment issues and expedite pending case actions.
When representatives call the RCC at 877-626-6363, they will now be automatically routed to the appropriate Processing Center based on the claimant’s age and Social Security number.
Calls that require further development will be sent to the appropriate division for follow-up.
For more information, visit our Representing Claimants webpage at www.ssa.gov/representation. Please share this article with your clients.
