woman and her husband are 65 and 66. She collects SSI ($280 per month) and her husband collects SSI and SSDI ($1800) per month). He is also a Veteran and is severely disabled and collects $3600 from the VA for his disability (100% service connected). She has power of attorney over his finances. He also qualifies for a pension from the Postal Service. He was a mail carrier for 20 years.
They are worried about applying for the Postal pension because they feel that it may decrease one of the other aforementioned monthly incomes and/or benefits.
Is their concern real, or are they missing out on money that they should be collecting?
Are they both collecting SS retirement as well? My sister (and my niece before she died) both collected SSDI (SS disability income) and my niece also collected SSI (supplemental security income) because her benefit was so low. When my sister turned 66 and qualified for SS retirement, it replaced her SSDI. She also receives 1/2 of her deceased husband's SS retirement benefit.
I would suggest they get on the phone with social security at the 800 number and ask them, as a hypothetical question.
Here's what I found online:
"Q. I receive a pension from the Post Office. When I'm old enough to qualify for Social Security, can I collect it as well?
A. The short answer is yes, but with a big qualifier, according to pension-rights lawyer Victoria Quesada of Quesada & Moore in West Hempstead, N.Y.
Your Social Security benefit will be reduced if the U.S. Postal Service didn't withhold Social Security taxes from your paycheck throughout your working life, Quesada said.
That's a significant qualifier for you, because before 1984 many government employees didn't have Social Security taxes withheld, Quesada said. Those employees paid, instead, into a federal pension. So if your years of service preceded that cutoff year, you probably didn't have the taxes withheld and will face a reduced Social Security benefit.
The change kicked in during the 1980s because of a law passed to prevent workers from making up their Social Security tax deficit by taking on a second job toward the end of their career. Lawmakers considered qualifying that way double-dipping.
For more information, go to the Social Security Administration's Web site at www.ssa.gov/search."
So what years did he work for the Post Office and did they withhold SS taxes from his wages?
