Spousal Beneficiaries Whose Government Pension Offset Has Stopped
May 28, 2014
The Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision reduces monthly benefits for spouses, divorced spouses, and surviving spouses who receive a pension based on their own work for a Federal, State, or local government that was not covered by Social Security. The GPO reduction is generally equal to two-thirds of the government pension.
Under certain conditions, an exemption from GPO may apply or SSA may properly stop GPO for beneficiaries who are no longer receiving their pensions. If GPO does not apply, SSA employees must record the reason for the exemption on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR).
The purpose of this report was to determine whether SSA had adequate controls to ensure it did not improperly stop GPO for spousal beneficiaries.