Social Security Pays Billions of Dollars in Retroactive Payments
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: April 18, 2025
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.
“President Trump made it very clear he wanted the Social Security Fairness Act to be implemented as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “We met that challenge head on and are proudly delivering for the American people.”
The WEP and GPO 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 agency continues to pay remaining retroactive payments and is ready to begin paying higher monthly benefit payments beginning in April for people’s March benefit.
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Tags: General Information, Social Security benefits
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Candy S.
How will this affect my 3025 taxes?
Yasmin Y.
This post was so timely for my family. The five-month waiting period was a point of confusion for us, and you explained it perfectly. Making complex subjects understandable is a real skill, one we value highly in our profession of building intuitive software and offering mobile app development services in Virginia. Thank you!
Yasmin Y.
It’s great to see such a clear explanation of how retroactive Social Security payments work. Understanding the distinction between retroactive and back payments is crucial, and the article explained the impact of the application date versus the date of disability so well. It highlights how important good information is for financial planning. We’re always thinking about how technology can make complex topics like this more accessible, which is a big driver for our team that specializes in mobile app development in Virginia. Clear communication is key everywhere!
camilla c.
This is such a helpful breakdown of a really confusing topic. I was trying to help my father understand his benefits last year, and the distinction between the date of disability onset and the date of application was the hardest part to get our heads around. Posts like this make the whole process so much more transparent. It’s amazing how complex these large systems are. It really takes dedicated expertise to build and manage them effectively, whether it’s for federal benefits or other services.