TN 3 (11-88)

GN 04020.100 Unrestricted Reopening - Deemed Wages For Certain Persons Interned During World War II — Policy Principle

Deemed wage credits for title II benefit purposes are provided to persons who were interned in the United States during World War II at a place operated by the United States government for the internment of United States citizens of Japanese ancestry. However, these deemed wages are not provided if the person's period of internment is credited toward a benefit which is determined by any agency of the United States to be payable under another Federal law or under a system set up by that agency.

If we awarded Social Security benefits based on deemed wage credits for the period of internment, and we learn more than 4 years after the date of the notice of our initial determination that a civil service pension was certified based on internment, we can reopen the determination or decision and retroactively remove the wage credits for Social Security benefit purposes. Similarly, if we learn after the expiration of the four-year period that we erroneously denied someone the wage credits because we were erroneously informed that a civil service pension was certified based on this internment, we can reopen at any time and retroactively grant the wage credits.