Social Security bonus: Millions to receive benefit increase — see who qualifies
More than 3.2 million Social Security recipients will receive a bump in their monthly benefits.
The benefits bump is a retroactive result of the Social Security Fairness Act former President Joe Biden signed during his final days in office on Jan. 5.
The law, which was more than 20 years in the making, ends two provisions called the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. These provisions reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits of 3.2 million people who received a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security.
Teachers, firefighters, police officers, federal workers covered by the Civil Service Retirement System and people paid by a foreign social security system are some of the individuals included in the Social Security bump.
Those whose monthly benefit is increasing or who will get a retroactive payment will receive a mailed notice from Social Security explaining the benefit change. Eligible recipients should have started receiving the increase in March.
Since Social Security Administration officials began sending increased benefits on March 4, the agency paid 1.12 million people more than $7.5 billion in retroactive payments, according to the agency’s website.
The monthly benefits increase will begin in April. Social Security payments will be distributed based on birth dates:
- Birth date 1-10 of the month – Benefits will be paid on the second Wednesday of the month
- Birth date 11-20 of the month – Benefits will be paid on the third Wednesday of the month
- Birth date 21-30 of the month – Benefits will be paid on the fourth Wednesday of the month
Federal officials said payment increases will vary widely for beneficiaries. Some will increase a little, but some may be increased by more than $1,000 each month.
If a person believes they’re eligible for an increase in monthly payments and haven’t received a notification from the SSA, people can contact the office at 1-800-772-1213.
https://advancelocal.arcpublishing.com/composer/story/v2/edit/SQHQ5VS2FZD7JGYDKGVHXTFWQE