When a spouse receives a Federal, State, or local periodic pension based on non-covered
government employment, annotate the spouse's answers to the questions on the Additional
Benefits (ADDB) screen and the applicable GPO screens in the Modernized Claims System
(MCS) application path. If MCS is not available, complete the SSA-3885 (Government Pension Questionnaire).
If an exception to the GPO applies, develop according to instructions in GN 02608.200B.2. in this section.
A periodic pension can cause either partial or total GPO; for information about the
types of GPO, see GN 02608.100B.
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a.
If partial GPO applies:
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•
The claimant must provide evidence from the employer or pension-paying agency (e.g.,
an award letter) that shows the gross periodic pension amount, including pension amount
changes as necessary, and the effective date of the pension. For additional types
of evidence, see GN 02608.200B in this section.
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•
If the claimant receives a lump sum, obtain evidence and develop according to GN 02608.400.
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For pensions based on a combination of government and private employment, also request
verification from the employer or pension-paying agency of the amount of the pension
based on only the government employment (for more information, see GN 02608.400); or
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•
If the claimant receives a Federal pension, the Civil Service Data (DCSD) screen of
the MCS Earnings Computation (EC) screens or the Civil Service (CS) Data line of the
Informational/Certified Earnings Records (ICERS) is acceptable evidence about the
periodic benefit. For information about the DCSD screen or the CS Data line in ICERS,
see MS MCSEC 001.011 and SM 00349.090, respectively.
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If the claimant expects an increase in the current pension amount, enter the future
month and year of the expected increase in the NEXT EXPECTED PENSION INCREASE DATE
field on the Government Pension Periodic Payments (GPP1) screen. For information on
the GPP1 screen, see MS COMMON 003.009.
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Do not enter a Stop Date for the current pension amount if the claimant expects an increase to the pension
in the future.
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It is not necessary to establish a diary.
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The Regular Transcript Attainment and Selection Pass (RETAP) generates an alert for
the processing center (PC) to follow up with the claimant for the expected pension
increase.
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Inform the claimant to report any pension increase or decrease.
The system calculates the Social Security benefit amount based on the non-covered
periodic pension information on the GPO screens.
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b.
If total GPO applies:
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•
Accept the allegation without further development if the claimant alleges they began
receiving the periodic pension on or before the date of entitlement (DOE) to spouse’s
benefits.
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Verify and obtain evidence for the beginning month of the periodic pension if the
claimant alleges they begin receiving the periodic pension after the DOE.
For information on how to handle payment of Medicare premiums when total offset applies,
see HI 01001.190.
Electronically store evidence through the Non-Disability Repository for Evidentiary
Documents (NDRed) system. For information about storing documents through NDRed, see
GN 00301.322.
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c.
If the claim has MCS processing limitations (for a list of processing limitations,
see MS MCSEC 001.036):
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Process the claim via an A101/EF-101;
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Be sure the GPO data that propagates to the A101 is accurate. When the PC processes
the award, the GPO data propagates to Manual Adjustment Credit and Award Data Entry
(MACADE) screens.
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Include notice paragraphs, as appropriate. For notice instructions, see NL 00720.060.
For information about the A101 and EF-101, see MS MCS 014.001 and MS T2PE 009.001
respectively.
If other beneficiaries are due benefits on the same record, and you have not verified
the periodic pension amount, apply total GPO to the spouse’s benefit. Include a paragraph
in the notice to the spouse to explain why total GPO applies. Establish a diary code
025 on the Decision Input (DECI) screen to verify the pension amount.
NOTE: If the spouse is entitled to retirement (RIB) or disability (DIB) benefits on their
own Social Security number, review the RIB or DIB record to determine if the Windfall
Elimination Provision (WEP) should apply to the computation of the primary insurance
amount (PIA) on that record. For more information about WEP, see RS 00605.360.